


Unknown Factors

by DarknessEverdeen



Category: Loonatics Unleashed
Genre: Action, Angst with a Happy Ending, Flashbacks, Mystery, Mystery Character(s), Secrets, Thief, i'm not good with tags, maybe some blood, or titles either, torture in the future
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2020-11-27 09:38:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 32,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20946224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarknessEverdeen/pseuds/DarknessEverdeen
Summary: The team finds out there are more people with powers on Acmetropolis, and they have to find them before they get influenced to do evil. What they find, though, is more than they expected. Friendships and leadership will be questioned, but is this our villain's plan?





	1. New Recruits

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys like it. I've been working on it for a long time, and it's finally coming together with the way I envisioned it many many years ago. The following chapters will be short due to my writing style has been small back in the day, and they will eventually get larger and more improved.

Rain poured down on her. She stayed on her knees, holding her shoulder tightly. Red fluid trickled down her arms and flowed down faster by the storm. A girl with the same face as her lay in front of her, motionless. A puddle of red fluid was underneath her, getting more abundant from the rain. She couldn't handle it and yelled toward the sky.

She woke up with a jolt. She looked at her trembling hands that wouldn't stop shaking with beads of sweat falling from her head and tears going down her cheeks. Her brunette hair was drenched in sweat, and her brown eyes enlarged from fear. She looked older now, almost like she was a grown adult.

I can't take this anymore, she thought and started to cry silently on her bed.

* * *

Ace dodged a gunshot aimed at him and sent a laser-blast at the attacker as he vanished into the air. This process continued every time he defeated an attacker.

"Simulation Over," a robotic female voice announced before the other attackers could do anything and disappeared into the air. He walked out of the simulator while wiping off sweat with a dry towel.

"You did great, Ace. As usual," Tech complimented while recording everything into the system.

"Thanks, Tech. You should try being part of it than just standing behind it."

"I'm fine like this. I needed you to try out the new program and updates I installed."

"Why didn't you call Duck for dat? He would have been a great test subject."

"Yeah, but he wouldn't take this seriously." Ace nodded in agreement while Rev zipped over to the simulator at his usual top speed.

"Hey-guys-Zadavia-needs-us-in-the-conference-room-she-said-she-needed-to-tell-us-something-important," he announced and zipped off to tell the rest.

"Another mission?" Ace asked Tech.

"Who knows. Maybe she has something important to say to us."

* * *

"Loonatics. I have something important to tell you all," Zadavia announced to them when everyone sat down.

"What's the news, Zadavia?" Lexi asked.

"You're promoting me into being the leader, aren't you." Duck suggested haughtily. Everyone rolled their eyes at his statement and looked toward Zadavia's hologram.

"No, Duck. This is more important than that. Remember when I was able to find you all when the meteor hit?" Zadavia noted to them.

"Yeah. We were emanating lots of radiation from our bodies because of the meteor," Tech replied/explained.

"Exactly right, Tech. I have found new evidence that more citizens in this world have powers as well." There was silence while the Loonatics were taking all this in.

"Hold on. So, there are more people with powers on the planet?" Lexi asked. Zadavia nodded. "Yes! I hope there'll be some girls to join us."

"Zadavia, do you know how many there are exactly and who they are?" Tech asked.

"There are at least two at the moment, and I don't know their gender. It's strange how they didn't come up when the meteor first hit. Now they show up once in a while on my radar."

"Once in a while?" Ace asked.

"Yes. It's strange, though. It's as if the meteor's power partially hit them. Their bodies radiate its effects once in a while as if they could control their radiation and powers. I have the last coordinates of one of the transmits readily for you. The other transmit has been changing so much it is hard to coordinate correctly where that person is. I need you to find them before they have any ideas or influence of doing something evil. Zadavia out." With that, she ended her transmission.

"Alright, guys. You heard Zadavia. Tech, I need you to get the coordinates she sent and start tracking down this poisan. You'll take Rev and Duck with you. Da rest of us will help Zadavia figure out the other coordinates. Loonatics, let's jet!"

* * *

A girl walked out of the Acme University Psychology building toward a cafe across the street. She had chin-length, blood-red hair with two shoulder-length braids. Her eyes were a mix of hazel and brown; her skin was light tan with a hint of a natural blush by her nose. She wore a dark green shirt with a long-sleeved, grey shirt underneath, navy jeans, and some black running shoes. She was about to enter the cafe but not before a boy came over to her.

"Rosalie! You left this on your desk." He handed her a black notebook. "Um... I've meant to ask you something." Rosalie tilted her head slightly.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Um... would you go out with me?" The boy shifted a little nervously as he looked at her with a determined look. Rosalie shook her head as she closed her eyes for a moment.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. Don't get me wrong; you're a cool guy. But...you aren't my type of guy. We can still be friends and hang out once in a while," she declined gently as not to hurt his feelings much.

Plus, you would be in danger if you did become my boyfriend, she thought. "I'm sorry." She walked away quietly without saying a word to him at all, trying to nor make eye contact. 'I can't let anyone know my secret or my true identity,' she added to her thoughts.


	2. Prepare for trouble

Tech, Rev, Duck were able to finally locate where this radiation Zadavia said was coming from and had to disguise themselves to look like ordinary civilians to not attract attention where they headed: an apartment building! They went up to the second floor, looking for room 202 until they found it at the end of the hallway.

"I-wonder-what-this-person-is-like-is-he-a-boy-a-girl-anthro-human-alien?!" Tech clasped Rev's beak shut.

"I think we're supposed to stay quiet until we find out for ourselves who this is we're dealing with," Tech advised. Rev nodded in his rapid way that he is before Tech let go of his beak.

"Alright, here goes nothing," Duck said and knocked on the door pretty hard. "This is the police! Open the door!"

Tech face-palmed himself while Rev shook his head in shame of the waterfowl. Something hit the floor with a hard thud inside the room before they scrambled to open the door. Who the person was, though, took them by surprise. It was a girl: around 24. She wore a sort of sloppy dark green shirt and a grey long-sleeved one underneath, navy jeans, barefoot, and some messy red hair that seemed to reach her chin and maybe lower. She rubbed her eyes for a bit and looked towards them with some hazel-brown eyes that looked a bit sleepy. She looked over them in a quick overview and rubbed her eyes again to get rid of the sleepiness hanging over her.

"You guys don't look like police officers. Who are you guys?" she asked them with a tired, monotone voice. They looked at each other and had to think of something fast.

"Um... we're looking for a Rosalie Dante. We heard she can help us with reverse psychology and how it works," Tech responded before Duck could command anything out of her. How did he know all this? He looked into her profile before they went in, of course.

"You guys friends with Professor Scratchnsniff?"

"Uh...yes, we are. He said you were good at reverse psychology."

"That was just a test. Whoever you are, I'm sorry. I can't help you even though it's a bit freaky how you know my name, and I don't know who you are exactly. So, leave me alone." Rev put his foot at the doorway before Rosalie could close it completely. She looked at him, unamused about the situation. "Please move your foot away from my doorway."

"Sorry-but-I-can't-do-that-miss." Then, he whispered something in her ear. Her eyes went wide open for a moment before they went back to normal.

"Why didn't you say so from the beginning. I was gonna call the cops on you guys if you didn't leave. Hold on a minute, will you." Rev moved his foot, and she closed the door. Tech and Duck glanced over at Rev.

"What the heck did you tell that woman, Rev?" Duck asked.

"I-just-told-her-that-we-are-detectives-and-that-we-came-for-a-follow-up-on-an-accident-that-happened-here-a-few-days-ago." After that awkward moment, the door opened up again wider.

"You guys can come in now. Make yourselves at home." She moved aside and let them into the apartment. It was a small apartment: a kitchen, a small living room, and a bedroom with its door shut closed. They sat on a couch, and she sat across from them on a separate seat. "Can I get you anything? Coffee? Snacks?"

"Can I have a latte? Hold the whipped cream, hold the caffeine, with fat-free milk, and a teaspoon of Splenda. That would be great, sweetheart," Duck answered without hesitation, relaxing to well in his seat.

"... I'm not exactly a cafe or barista, you know... anything other than a latte and that I have here?"

"A soda for all of us would be fine," Tech took over. She got up to the kitchen and came back with three sodas and a water bottle for herself.

"Here you go." She put them on the coffee table and sat back down. "Would you guys like anything else?"

"No, thanks. We're fine. You live alone here?"

"Yeees. I thought you guys already knew that."

"Oh-sorry-I-forgot-to-say-that-we're-new-to-the-department-and-that-they-stuffed-the-case-to-us." She just nodded slowly.

"I see. Well, yes. I do live alone."

"Where's your family from?"

"On the other side of Acmetropolis. I haven't seen them for a couple of years now."

"Exactly how long? And how many members?"

"I have a mom and two older sisters. Is this exactly what you need to know from the case?"

"Um... not exactly. We just needed to know about you a bit," Rev said slower than usual but slow enough for their host to understand him.

"Actually, we're here for a different reason," Tech added hesitantly. She stayed silent and still for a bit before she hunched closer to them with a sudden cold air surrounding them, her composure very serious.

"Then who are you really, and why did you come here..." She responded in a cold tone of voice that could send chills down one's spine. Tech hesitated about his response.

"The truth is, we're the Loonatics, and we've come here because we have some hints that you and someone else might have powers." She closed her eyes, breathing deeply and slowly, before opening her eyes again and stood up.

"Is it okay if you guys go to the kitchen for a bit? Someone's at the door." A knocking sound suddenly came from the door before they could question her about it. They found it strange that she wanted them to leave the room, but they did as they were told. As they went to the next room, Duck couldn't help but turn around a bit and saw her going towards the door and fingering something black hidden under her green shirt. As he took a better look, he noticed it was a small black DAO revolver that she was fingering.

"Ooooooh Teeeeech. She's hiding a gun under her shirt," he whispered to Tech. Tech, Rev, and Duck looked over the side of the doorway, peeking a look over to the front door.

"How may I help you," she said casually to the guy at the door. He looked to be dressed in a FedEx uniform and holding a box with one end against his chest.

"Hi. I came to deliver a package to a... 'Rosalie Dante?'" he said/asked.

"I didn't order anything," she replied casually.

"But it says here it's for you."

"If it were for me, you would have told me who sent it since someone like me could say that I didn't order it even if I probably forgot I did."

"Come on, Lady. This thing is pretty heavy, and it was sent to you by an anonymous person."

"How do you know it was an anonymous person who sent this package to me if you don't even know who sent it to me."

"I-think-that's-supposed-to-be-one-version-of-reverse-psychology," Rev whispered.

"Ah, yes. The kind that you confuse a person into eventually telling you the truth without knowing it. Or she's testing this guy as she did to us," Tech explained.

"Did you talk with this 'anonymous person' who sent me this box? What's confusing, though, is..." she bent closer to him. "Who are you really and who sent you." The tension around them started spreading around the apartment, and the guys didn't know what to do. What was she talking about? Why interrogate this guy and not them? The FedEx man's lip started to twitch as if wanting to smile and his aura felt different now. There was a hint of mischief in this guy's eyes as well.

"If you didn't order it and someone sent it to you without you knowing, then what am I supposed to do with it?"

"Return it, of course. But then again, you didn't answer my question." The guy sighed, making it seem like he was tired and slowly bent over slowly to put down the box.

"Let me put this down first, and we'll talk it over. This thing is heavy, you know." He put down the box and sneaked his hand into an opening on his side before getting up at top speed with a gun in his hand. At the same time, Rosalie had withdrawn her gun, and both weapons aimed at each other's heads. The guys were shocked by this and unconsciously ran out of the kitchen to stop them.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Put down the guns now!" Tech yelled but not so loud as to alarm the neighbors. It was a standoff between those two.

"I won't! This guy has been after me this whole time!" Rosalie yelled.

"Ah. I see you were prepared in case one of us came for you again," FedEx guy said with an evil smile on his face.

"Well, from what you guys did five days ago, of course, I'd be more cautious than I was before."

"I've got orders from my boss to get you back at any cost or to erase you from everything in this world. And that includes your friends here." He pointed towards the guys with his empty hand. That was enough time. A green glow surrounded the guns and went flying over Tech's hands in an instant. The dumbfounded FedEx guy had no time to recover from that move as Rosalie grabbed his arm and twisted it hard behind his back with swift hands. Bones could be heard breaking, and maybe his shoulder got dislocated. For a final move, she hit his head at an angle, and he fell on the floor, unconscious. The guys were shocked and were looking at her as if she did something horrible. She looked at them, confused.

"What?"

"Uh, dude! You just killed him!" Duck yelled.

"What-were-you-guys-saying-it-was-confusing-what-is-this-order-thing-and-how-are-you-even-involved-in-it." She scratched her head in more confusing.

"Um... What'd he say?"

"What did you do for this to happen," Tech shortened.

"I used to work at this hotel, and they made me sign a contract, and they didn't tell me what it was for. I signed it, and now I'm in trouble because of them."

"Exactly how much trouble, missy?" Duck asked.

"In EXTREME trouble that I've changed a lot of things about myself. For example, my name. It's not Rosalie Dante."

"Then what's your real name."

"My name is Luna. Luna Kane."

"Yur name sounds Mexican for some reason."

"I'm not."

"Putting that aside, we have to tell the others," Tech said, getting his communicator out. She passed a hand through her hair, pacing by the door in a bit of panic and avoiding the FedEx guy.

"What do I do now? A second attack means that they...they know where I am, they may know how you guys look... I-I've seen this a lot of crime shows on TV. What am I gonna do now?... Where am I supposed to go now?... They'll probably hunt me down again." She looked towards them for help before she could start to panic. Rev patted her shoulder while Tech called the others at HQ.

* * *

Ace, Lexi, and Slam were trying to find where the other possible Lunatic may be.

"Found anything yet, Lex?" Ace asked.

"Zippo. Did you?"

"Nope. I hope Tech, Rev, and Duck and doing better than we are." His communicator started beeping in the nick of time. "Speak of the devil." He answered the call and made sure to put it far enough for both Lexi and he could see. "What's up, Tech?"

"Chief, I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is we found our next Lunatic. The bad news, she's in deep trouble."

"Tech, did you just say 'she'? Awesome! Now I don't have to be the only girl in the team!" Lexi exclaimed in joy. Ace smiled at Lexi's enthusiasm.

"What kind of trouble is she in?"

"The kind of trouble where you go in hiding."


	3. Fugitive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where we last left off:
> 
> "What kind of trouble is she in?" Ace asked.
> 
> "The kind of trouble where you go into hiding," Tech replied.

"Whoa whoa, let me get this straight. Our next Loonatic is being hunted down by an unknown organization and you know this for sure?"

"No doubt about it. We witnessed an attack from them just a few minutes ago. And it also turned out she was attacked a few days ago. She was attacked by the same group but different minions." Ace started to wonder how this could have happened, but the main problem right now was to make sure their new member is out of this bizarre situation.

"We'll have to bring her straight to HQ and tell Zadavia about this."

"Got it. We'll meet you there in a jiffy. If you want to look onto her files, her name in 'Luna Kane.'" Ace hanged up and turned to Lexi. "Can ya look up her profile while I call Zadavia?"

"Sure thing, Ace." Ace left Lexi with the supercomputer while he went over to the hollogramer (or whatever it's called) and made a call.

* * *

Luna was locked in her room, doing whatever she was doing while the guys waited outside the building making sure that no suspicious character went in but not looking suspicious themselves. After half an hour later, Luna came out of the building with a backpack that looked overstuffed and a long baton of sorts covered in cloth and rope on her back as well.

"What did you stuff in there? Rocks? And what's with the stick?" Duck asked annoyingly. She glared at him.

"If you're so eager to know, it's spare clothing. And the 'stick' is actually a family heirloom all wrapped up," she responded and faced Tech. "So, which way?"

"This way. We better make sure no one is following us while going over to HQ. Rev, can you do that?" Tech explained.

"Sure-thing-no-problem-it-will-be-easy-easy-easy-I-could-just-use-my-GPS-and-it-"

"No need for the long explanation, Rev."

'They're onto me about my powers but I hope they're not onto me about my past,' Luna thought to herself.

* * *

Ace had finished his conversation with Zadavia and told Slam about their newcomer and about her situation. Slam was happy hearing about a new member.

"Fyuifrtyuiolk jhgfrert yuiouyt dyhgt party?" he asked.

"Sure, Slam. That'll probably get her mind off of things." Ace walked back over to the supercomputer where Lexi had a picture up and some files. "Found anything?"

"Yeah. Luna Kane. 22 years old, lives alone in an apartment building across from the Acme University, is recently getting a bachelors degree for adult psychology counseling. Raised by a single mother with two other sisters, her last job was at a cafe where she apparently quit because of their lack of responsibility and low wages."

"Sounds like serious business. No criminal records?"

"None at all. The only thing recorded is that she got a parking ticket for her motorbike and eventually paid it off."

"Hmm... medical records?"

"She was hospitalized once because of a hard impact to the head that led to a small concussion." Ace looked over photos and scans.

"You never checked her family records yet?"

"No... give me a sec." She started looking through all the profiles she could find that might be related. "This might take a while, chief."

"Take your time, Lexi. We still have a bit of time before dey get here." He patted her shoulder then walked off.


	4. Let's be Friends

Tech, Duck, Rev, and Luna had been walking in silence for a while, Tech looking ahead, Luna at the ground in nervousness, and Duck looking at his phone. He had been continuously pushing buttons on his phone while it rang a tune that annoyed Luna and Tech. So much that Tech covered his ears from how loud it was.

"Duck, I told you to get rid of that ringtone," Tech said after a while, irritation and pain on his face.

"Well, it's not my fault that it's the only ringtone that works on this damn thing," Duck replied, still messing with his phone.

"Here. Let me see it," Luna offered, taking her hand out to Duck. He looked at her suspiciously for a moment before putting away his phone instead.

"I'll deal with it on my own later." He turned away, making Luna sigh a bit and put her hand into her pocket. She took out her phone and looked like she started to mess with it. Tech noticed and turned to her.

"What model is that? I've never seen it before," he asked curiously.

"Oh, um... it's a modified phone. It's an old model, but I find it much simpler to use than the new phones."

"Oh, I see. May I take a look at it?"

Luna hesitated slightly before handing over the phone for him to examine. He flipped the phone around to check out every detail and looked at the buttons as well. He was surprised and intrigued by how the phone was constructed.

"This is amazing. It seems more advanced than technology here in Acmetropolis. It isn't like the kind from Zadavia's home, either."

"Zadavia?" Luna looked at him in confusion.

"He's talking about the boss lady. She's the one who told us about you," Duck added, walking ahead of the two.

Luna nodded before she looked around as if she remembered something. "Hey, what happened to Rev? He was here a moment ago."

"Here-I-am-missed-me-I-was-surveying-the-block-to-make-sure-we-weren't-being-followed-though-I-said-that-a-while-ago," Rev rattled on, suddenly appearing next to them.

Luna blinked a bit as her brain processed what he had said. "Oh. Right. Sorry, I have sort of a short-term memory loss sometimes."

"Really-that's-horrible-how-do-you-deal-with-that-how-often-do-you-get-it-how-long-do-you-last-with-memory-loss-what-i-"

Tech grabbed Rev's beak shut. "I think those questions can wait until we get to HQ, Rev," he said before releasing his beak.

"I appreciate you guys understanding my situation, though. I think that I got you guys involved in something you shouldn't have," Luna said earnestly.

"It's no problem. There are very few things we can't handle, and I'm sure we'll be able to handle this one well. We've dealt with organizations before."

"Like the one from Adolpho," Duck added.

"Or-that-time-some-of-the-bad-guys-banded-together-to-take-us-down," Rev added as well.

"See? We can handle hem," Tech reassured her, patting her shoulder.

Luna smiled lightly at his efforts to cheer her up when she seemed down. "Thanks, guys."

The group continued walking until soon they reached Loonatics HQ, Duck opening up access first before they all stepped inside to take the elevator to the main area. As they waited for the elevator to reach their destination, there was a light tapping sound coming from Luna.

Duck looked at her, annoyed before commenting, "Do that often?"

Luna stopped as she wasn't sure what he was talking about before her leg relaxed a little in realization. "Sorry. Bad habit," she apologized. They waited a few more minutes before the doors opened to something they did not expect. The doors opened to a room filled with food and drinks, looking very lively like a party.

"Hey, guys. Join the party," Ace said with a smile and a cup of soda at hand. Lexi was there drinking some pop as well and was originally talking with Ace before they had arrived while Slam had decided to have a few munches on the food. The other Loonatics seem to realize what it was all for and joined in immediately while Luna was still trying to take it all in.

"What..." she drifted off, but couldn't find the words to finish.

"It's a party. Just for you," Lexi said, smiling at her and walking towards her. She placed a hand on her shoulder and walked her into the living room. "Come one, no need to be shy."

Luna walked with her to the food table and was speechless. "For me? Seriously? I...I don't know what to say," she said with a smile.

"Well, you could thank us. Ace thought it would help keep your mind off things while Slam came up with the food and drinks." Ace walked up to her and took his empty hand out to shake. Luna turned to Ace and slowly took his hand and shook it.

"Thanks," she said to him. Ace smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"No problem, doc," he replied.

_'His voice rings a bell. Can't seem to know why, though, apart from what the world knows,'_ Luna thought. Slam came up behind her and gave picked her up in a tight hug.

"Careful, big guy. I don't think she's used to your big strength." Slam looked down at Luna, who was taken by surprise from his big hug.

"Oops," he said and placed her down. Luna did her best to catch her breath.

"It's ok. I guess you could say I'm used to those hugs," she said after catching her breath. She straightened up, not knowing that some of the cloth on her stick had fallen off to show something they didn't expect. Ace was the first to notice.

"Hey. Is that a sword hilt?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow. Everyone turned to her curiously, and she blushed in nervousness.

"Ehehe. Um...I-I-I guess I can't hide it anymore," she said. She took off her backpack and removed the stick from the pack, removing the cloth. Underneath the fabric was a sword that had a shiny and new sheath. "It's my family heirloom. It's an important sword passed down for generations. The good thing about it is that it won't cut anything." To prove so, she uncovered it to reveal an old blade that looked like it wouldn't be able to cut anymore. "I had to bring it with me since it's very valuable even if it can't cut."

"Who would take that old sword and consider it valuable?" Duck asked her, with a confused look on his face.

"That's because this sword is way older than you could ever imagine," she said, putting the blade in its sheath. "I think we should stop talking about it. Let's say it's a sore subject." Everyone nodded a bit, understanding, and she put the sword to the side. "So, shall we get the party started?" She wanted to change the subject. After a while, Luna got used to everyone, and all the Loonatics seemed to have accepted her quickly, forgetting about her situation. After a while, Luna yawned from how tired she was from playing games and letting loose with them. Lexi led her to their guest room and took her stuff with her. As the girls were gone, Ace and Tech were at the supercomputer, finishing up searching more about their new acquaintance.

"Strange. I can't seem to find any information about any of Luna's relatives or her family tree. Maybe if I had a bit of her DNA, we could find them faster," Tech said as he clicked and pushed buttons.

"Hmm. That is strange. Maybe dat oganization dat's tracking her down erased a lot of her infomation, and she was barely able to hold just some of it left," Ace gave his own opinion. "Meanwhile, we'll have to use some of her DNA. Dough, she did look familiar to me. Don't know why."

Tech thought back and realized he was right. "I agree. I think I've seen her before. Before the meteor hit," Tech added. "I believe she either went by a different name back then or the person I met before looked coincidentally just like her."

"I see. For now, let's stop our soich until we're able to get some of her DNA to test out. Tomorrow we'll figure out what powers she has." Tech nodded and put all their information away.


	5. The Thief and the Test

It was dark out, the light from the moon bright enough to illuminate the rooms through the glass windows of a museum far from the tower. A mysterious figure was roaming around, though no one could see it at all; not even the security guard with a flashlight illuminating the area it shined brightly. The guard was on high alert, told that the jewelry thief was on the long run and might target their new display of the necklace worn by Queen Antoinette from the 25th century Acme England. He walked away from the area, making sure the cameras worked, and the chain was still there.

Once he left the room, however, the dark figure left the walls and got close to the necklace. The silhouette of the person made it hard to tell how the person looked. It took the chain without setting off the alarms and turned to one of the cameras, golden eyes with black slits that were in place of pupils shined from the moonlight. Just as fast as the figure appeared on cameras, it disappeared from the room and cams, leaving only a note of what they stole. The character appeared once again outside of the museum, the lunar light now illuminating the character correctly. The thief turned out to be a woman looking to be 24, with hip-long brunette hair. She wore a black long-sleeved shirt, black pants, a black holster, and black boots. If another thing helped to describe her, it was that she looked exactly like Luna, but with much more extended and different colored hair along with cat ears and a tail that moved. She held the stolen necklace in her hand, examining it before putting it away inside a pouch she had attached to her thigh.

"Heh. That was too easy for such a high-tech museum. I didn't even have to use my powers," the girl said. She turned to the moon, her eyes shining in the light and her pupils changing to normal ones. "I hope the others are safe."

* * *

Back at headquarters, Luna woke up with a start, having cold sweat on her forehead. She put a hand through her hair, her red hair falling off to reveal mid-forearm long, wavy brunette hair. "I hope those nightmares would go away someday," she mumbled to herself. She looked at her watch and saw that it was too early in the morning to get up and do normal activities. She wiped her sweat off and laid back in bed, trying to go back to sleep only to end up sleepless. She gave off a sigh and got up, the moonlight shining on her skin. She had slight marks on her neck that shone slightly on her cheeks, and small cat ears that camouflaged with her hair. An orange-tan tail with black stripes resembling a tiger's fell from behind her, swaying as slick as a cat's. She still looked incredibly human even with these strange animalistic traits of hers. No one knew of this except the ones she truly trusted.

* * *

The next morning, everyone was inside Tech's lab, Luna sitting at a chair with her red wig on and rubbing her arms nervously. "Do I need to get a shot?" she asked nervously, obviously not liking the idea.

"Don't worry. You won't get a shot. We're just going to put this on you to see what your powers might be and why they seem to get off the radar so much," Tech explained. He walked over to her with a pad in his hand that had a small needle on one side. "Just hold still so we can get things quicker." He held her arm gently and quickly put the tiny needle into the bend of her arm; a holographic screen came up from it. He looked at the displays and analyzed the data that came up. "Hmm...very interesting."

"What's interesting? Her DNA?" Duck asked, unamused.

"That's one thing, yes." Duck's eyes went wide for a moment, not expecting to be right.

"Really? I was just kidding about that." Luna held her breath a bit in a nervous reaction. Tech noticed her tense up and patted her shoulder gently.

"Just relax, Luna. I'm almost done," he reassured her. After a minute or two, he removed the pad the needle and placed a bandage where it had been. "All done. Now for some exercises to see how your powers work." Luna nodded and stood up, fixing her sleeve back down. She got up from her seat and followed him to the training simulator, the others following afterward. She went inside and waited for the simulator to start or one of them following in to test her out. "Ok. I'll have the simulator at an easy level to see how your powers are activated. All you have to do is fight off the robots," he explained. Luna nodded, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before getting started. "Ready? Go!"

Robots came from all sides, aiming straight at her. As soon as the robots were just a foot away from her, she opened her eyes and jumped high into the air, making the robots crash into each other and becoming nonfunctional. She did a small flip in the air and landed a few feet away from them, landing on her feet and going lower to spread out the momentum and gravity. A robot had gone over the pile and was flying towards her, but she high-kicked it into the wall. She continued with the simulation as she did, not seeming to have let out her powers at any point, but made the others be incredibly surprised by her skill. Ace and Tech were both surprised the most at how calm she looked at doing so.

"Strange how she hasn't activated her powers yet when we eventually would," Ace said to Tech.

"Should I make it harder for her?" Tech asked him.

"Permission granted." With that, Tech clicked a few buttons on the simulator and activated a few more things to make the fight more interesting. Small flying saucers with blades on them came flying to attack her. She heard and saw them and reacted quickly. She flipped backward, avoiding the two saucers that were coming at her and others that came afterward. She moved her right hand to her left hip as if to grab something, but realized what was supposed to be there was not. A flying disk came at her from the front and a robot from behind, giving her no space to escape.

'One thing left to do,' she thought. She made a small sign with her hands before making a hand go towards her right and left, an invisible force pushing the robot and disk back in the direction it came from. This is where everyone was taken back, making most of them have their jaw dropped low. Figuratively speaking, of course. Luna was breathing slightly heavily and started to fight with an invisible force, going into offensive now. As she fought, it seemed like she was finally letting go of what was holding her back. They were all astounded by the way she used these unknown powers. Tech analyzed over the data was able to figure out what her powers were.

"Okay. So far, she seems to have only released around two powers. One being super strength, and the other is wind manipulation. She can practically do almost the same as Weathervane can with the weather." Everyone turned to Tech as if he just created something dangerous and in awe at the same time. Who would have thought this human girl had such power in her and was able to hide it for over four years. Once the session was over, Luna stepped out of the simulation room with a bit of a sweat and some labored breathing. She wiped it off with her sleeve and was careful about her hair.

"How did I do?" she had barely asked before they surrounded her, except Tech and Ace, of course. They stayed behind to check on the data they collected. Tech wasn't satisfied with the results they got.

"Something isn't right. Something else is there other than having radiation from the meteor. It's been bugging me since I started analyzing her DNA," he said. Ace raised an eyebrow and turned to him after observing the praises their new member got from the others.

"I know what you mean about something not being right, doc," he said, crossing his arms across his chest. "Did you notice when she was fighting how she moved to grab something by her hip that wasn't there? It looked liked she had grabbed for a weapon, something like a knife.." Tech looked up and over to him.

"Or a sword," Tech finished. Tech turned back to his computer and started to do some research. "I believe that maybe it's an outer material other than the meteor that has affected her into getting powers. I'll have to do a scan on that sword of hers to confirm my theory." Ace nodded and went with the rest of the group to give his praise to her. What they didn't know was that the whole time they whispered, she had been listening to them talk about her.


	6. Found You

Luna was being given the tour of the tower now that she was a new member. She even got to meet Zadavia,though it was by a hologram. It was a strange and pleasant experience all together. Ace had told her that she wasn't going to be in any mission sooner or later until they figured out the rest of her powers. The purpose being so that they can make a uniform that could withstand her powers. While she has been getting used to her new lifestyle, she kept a close eye on her sword. She knew sooner or later they would take it to try to do some testing on it and its effects.

Ace and Tech found it hard to get the sword out of her grasp. For one, it would seem suspicious. They've tried getting Rev to take it since he could do it in a snap without her noticing, but even then, she has dodged him. She was pretty good. Ace and Tech were trying to figure out another way to confirm their suspicions and take the sword when something rang a bell in their heads. They were supposed to have two recruits, not just one. They had to forget about their current interest to go search for their missing member. Tech searched through his computer for any traces of any strange signals that meant someone using their powers. They never even realized that Lexi and Luna had left the tower to go out to eat. They needed their girl time, especially since they would seem to be the only girls on the team apart from Zadavia.

Lexi looked around and saw a restaurant she had never been at. "Hey, let's go there. I've never been to it, but I heard it's delicious," she said.

"Sure. I think I've been here once, but that was long ago," Luna said, and they walked in. They took a seat by the windows so they could get a pretty good view if needed to take action. Both girls were wearing casual clothes, blending in with everyone else so that they could never guess Lexi was one of the Loonatics. Luna was an unofficial Loonatic, so she hadn't been announced to everyone yet that she was working with them. "Ever since I got to the tower, strange things have been happening, have you noticed?"

"Yeah. Tech and Ace seem to be more alert and suspicious of things even if it's all calm."

"Exactly. Not only that, but I feel like they're the only ones who don't trust me ye-" Luna was saying until a lady came up to them.

"Sorry for the interruption. I'll be your waitress today. If you have any questions, call for me," said the lady, sounding very chipper. She handed them their menu so they could look at it, the girls not having looked up to get a good look at their waitress. Lexi looked at her menu and tried to figure out what to choose while Luna already knew what to get.

"Yeah. Can I get the special desse-" Luna started saying and turned to the lady only to cut herself off at the surprise. Both she and the lady gasped. Not at the fact that they sounded similar or anything, but because they looked the same. Not clothing-wise, but actual twin wise. With the same eye color, skin color, features, everything. Lexi was confused at why they gasped until she turned to them and gasped as well from the surprise. They looked the same except for the hair color and length of it. What a coincidence this would happen.

"Why do you look like me?" both the lady and Luna asked at the same time. They bit their lower lips at the same time and in the same manner. It was indeed something strange.

* * *

Back at HQ, Tech's supercomputer started to go off with an alarm. Tech ran towards it and saw three dots on the screen crumpled together, a pink, a blue, and a white. "I got the location of our second new member," he announced to Ace.

Ace went over to the supercomputer and saw all three dots on the screen while Tech zoomed the screen to show the location where they were and the smaller details.

"The pink dot is Lexi, the white one is Luna, and the blue one is of our second new member," Tech explained. Ace examined and saw how they seemed to be still in a ball. The white dot then left the other two and toward the back of the building, which he guessed was the employee area of the restaurant. He took out his communicator and called Lexi.

Lexi watched as the girl left them and went to the back to get their orders. She soon heard her communicator go off and answered. "Hey. What up, Ace?" she asked him. "Hey, you won't believe what we found at the cafe."

"Is that so? We found something where you guys are at, too," he said to her. "We found the location of the other member and is actually at the same cafe you guys are at."

"Really? Where exactly is the person?" Lexi asked excitedly, looking around the cafe. Luna listened to the conversation and had a feeling who it would be in the whole cafe. She just wondered how everyone would react to it.

"This person should be walking in your direction, though they are walking everywhere around the cafe. I'm guessing this person is one of the employees," he replied to her. Lexi looked around and noticed several people were walking around. Then she thought of something. What if it was the same girl that looked exactly like Luna.

"I have a feeling I know who you're talking about," Lexi said. She noticed that Luna seemed to stay silent and try not to make any contact. "It's ok, Luna. Nothing bad's gonna happen. One of the Loonatics is around, and you have powers. We need to know what they are. No one will come after you now." Luna turned to her and realized she seemed to be trying to console her. She gave a small smile to her.

"It's ok, Lexi. I'm not that scared. I was just thinking about my family," she said to her. She didn't want to worry about her since she had seemed to be the victim of a scam done by her former employer. "I haven't seen them since I changed my identity, so I'm just wondering how they're doing." She wanted to change the subject soon. "So, who do you think the new member would be? My bets are on the cutie over there." She wasn't interested, but it was the best she could say since there was a guy passing by them. Lexi turned to see the guy she was talking about and turned to Luna.

"He is cute, but I don't think he's the one," she said. "I think it might be the waitress that attended us." Ace had been listening the whole time and had raised a brow when they tried to change the subject.

"Where is the waitress now?" he asked them, surprising them both.

"Oh. She went to the back and is now bringing our things. How did you know that we were even in a cafe?" Lexi asked.

"Tech's supercomputer is tracking you guys and everyone else. We got a good location of where the second member could be, and it happens to be the same place you goils are at. Right now, the second member seems to be going to you two." Lexi looked up and noticed Layla walk to them with their orders.

"Call you back if not come over with the second member," she said before hanging up. Layla walked over to them and set their orders on the table.

"Here are your orders. Enjoy your meals," she said with a smile.

"Thanks. Hey, could you hang out with us after your shift? It'll be fun," Lexi said to her.

"Well, I guess I could. I'm off my shift in about an hour. I'll see you guys outside then?" she asked her. Lexi nodded to her.

"Sure thing. See you then." Layla smiled and walked away to continue her job. "Well, let's eat before we go back." She started to eat her vegetarian meal, and Luna nodded.

"Ok, then. Can't wait for how it'll be," Luna said before she started to eat.


	7. Seeing Doubles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading my story. I'm glad you guys are enjoying it a lot. I'll keep doing my best to bring you good content and wrap it all up well.

Luna and Lexi were hanging around close to the cafe, waiting for Layla to get out of work. When she did, they met up with her and walked away with her like it was a girls' night out. Only, it was daytime. They had gone to a store when Lexi remembered she had to call Ace back.

"Oh, hold on, I need to go make a call," she said to them. She went far from them a bit before calling Ace. Ace answered when she called and had noticed that the third dot was walking with them.

"Hey. It looks like you found the second member," he said to her. Lexi nodded to him and was excited to see everyone's reaction to their new member.

"Yeah. And you won't believe who the member is. Just a heads up, our member is also a female," she said with a grin. She was pretty happy that the new members were girls too. That way, she wouldn't be the only female of the group or have only one other person to talk to about personal things.

"Really? Sounds like great news for you," he said with a smile. He found it charming when she was happy. That's how he thought she should be.

"Yeah. Anyways, I'll get her to come over to headquarters so that we can figure out more about her."

"Alright, then. Do you know the girl's name so that I can look up her profile before you guys get here?" Lexi bit her lower lip at that.

"Unfortunately, no. I know her first name and not her last. But it won't be that hard to find her profile once we get to the tower. You'll be super surprised by the new member." Ace nodded and wondered why she was that excited.

"I'll wait for you guys here. You three have a bit of fun before you get here."

"Will do." And with that, Lexi hung up and went back to the twins. "Sorry I took so long."

"It's ok, Lexi. Everyone gets distracted in calls all the time," Layla said with a smile and a small shrug.

Luna nodded. "Yeah. Happens to everyone," she said. Lexi was glad that she knew some sweet gals that weren't hurt easily.

"Cool. Oh. I forgot something back at my place. You wouldn't mind if we go for it, right?" Lexi asked them, mostly asking Layla since she didn't know she meant the tower. Layla thought it was probably just her house or her apartment and agreed.

"Sure. I don't mind," she said. Luna knew that it was just a way to get Layla to the tower without a problem.

"Great. You'll be able to see some of my friends. They're going to be hanging around a bit before they go off on their own," Lexi said. Luna felt like this was going to go wrong if they didn't explain from the beginning instead of lying. Luna sighed and placed a hand on Layla's shoulder.

"What Lexi means is that we found that you might have powers as we do," she said. Layla was surprised when she said that and turned to Lexi.

"Is this true?" Lexi sighed at how she was foiled in her fool-proof plan.

"Yeah. You see, I'm one of the Loonatics, and we found two new life forms that have powers as well. That being you and Luna," she explained. "We want you to come with us so we can figure out what your powers are, and, if you want, you can also join the team." Layla was speechless. Sure, she had been feeling strange since the meteor hit the planet, and people had been acting weird around her. But she seemed surprised at knowing she had powers. "You can think about it on our way over there. It's not that far from here. Even after the tests, you can choose." Layla bit her lower lip and nodded. She had a dark secret just like Luna did and didn't want anyone to know it. But since she was in this tight spot, refusing would be something suspicious. They walked over to the tower and entered. Layla was surprised when she looked around. It was both fantastic and straightforward in her eyes. It was surprising for her to see superheroes living a simple life. Tech was passing by with a pad in his hand, his focus driven only to his work. "Hey, Tech. You busy?" Tech heard and looked up, turning to them.

"Oh, hey. I didn't notice you guys came already," he said, finally taking notice of the new girl. She looked so familiar to someone he met in the past. He realized that she looked exactly like Luna in almost every aspect except the clothes and length and color of hair. He thought that if they changed their hairstyles and wore the same clothes, they could be mistaken for the other for being twins. "Um..."

"I got the same reaction," Lexi said. "And from what Ace said the second member might be, and we happened to stumble upon her. And I just knew that she was it." Tech nodded in understanding.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said to Layla, taking out his hand for them to shake. Layla smiled and shook his hand.

"Pleasure is all mine. I never thought I would be able to meet the Loonatics," she said, letting go of his hand afterward. She had felt a strange spark in her hand like she once did many years ago. She thought it might have been some small static. Tech seemed to have felt the same but thought it was just his powers acting funny.

"Well, for proper introductions, you can call me Tech. And your name?"

"Oh. Sorry for not introducing myself. My name's Layla Story," she said. Tech nodded at her response.

"I see. Well, I don't mind if we get started on the test to see what powers you have. But let's save that for tomorrow as you might feel uncomfortable," he said to her. "I still have a few other tests to run, so you guys have fun." And with that, he left to do his work. He had used a rubber glove that was transparent and hard to notice to sneak some functional DNA off of Luna. But now he ended up with Layla's. Well, that wasn't a complete loss. He went off to use her fingerprints to get her information faster. Lexi smiled at this meeting, not knowing what Tech had planned.

"Well, I guess I can show you around the place. Not sure if the other guys are here or not, but we can be sure that Tech will be in his laboratory making some toys for the team," she said to Layla.

"Thanks. I appreciate it. I'm a big fan of the Loonatics, but I try to keep my enthusiasm under control, so I don't seem like a crazy fan-girl," Layla said with a small laugh. Lexi giggled a little and showed Layla the inside of the Loonatics tower, not knowing what was going inside the head of the two recruits.

In the lab, Tech had placed the glove carefully in a vial, trying not to get his fingerprints on the glove. He put it on a machine to read the prints that belonged to Layla and come up with all her information. But as he searched, he came up with a shocking discovery. Not only did her information come up, but so did Luna's as well as a whole lot of other women that had the same faces as them two, all of them with different information about their background and some from different periods, not having updated at all. He found something was fishy with this. "Hey, Ace," he said through his communicator. Ace was meditating up in his room when Tech called in through the communicator.

"What's up, Doc?" he asked as he put his communicator upright so they could talk right.

"You need to come to the lab and check this out. Lexi came in with our next recruit who just so happened to look exactly like Luna, almost like they were identical twins. I originally met up with them so that I can see the new recruit as well as get a sample DNA off of Luna's fingerprints only to end up with the new girl's fingerprints. I put it through the supercomputer to get her information and found something a whole more than I expected," Tech explained. Ace raised a brow at this and got off of his mediation plate. "On my way, Tech. I think we're starting to gain more than bargained for when Zadavia gave us this mission. I'll be there in a jiffy." With that, Ace walked out of his room and headed for Tech's lab.

Ace was on his way to the lab when he saw Lexi with two others there, Luna and her possible twin. He then remembered that Tech had said they looked identical and knew he wasn't kidding. Lexi saw him and smiled.

"Hey, Ace. Glad I could meet you here. I would like you to meet Layla Story, our new member, and the one you said was actually at the same place we were at," she said, introducing them to each other. Layla smiled and took out her hand to shake with his.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ace. I'm a pretty big fan," she said. Ace smiled and took her hand, shaking it a little before letting go.

"Pleasure to meet ya, Layla," he said. "Hope you get comfortable here at the tower. I don't think we'll put you in any mission anytime soon until you get used to everything and get through some training." Layla nodded in understanding. "If you'll excuse me, ladies, I need to request Tech to do something for us." He nodded to them before heading toward Tech's lab. Once he was inside and was sure the girls were pretty far from them, he gave a little sigh. "Boy, you weren't kidding when you said that the new girl looked exactly like Luna," he said to him. Tech heard him and smirked a little.

"I'm guessing you met the sudden twin," he said to him as he turned back to the computer. "This is what I was talking about." He pulled up the files he was talking about to show Ace. Ace put a hand on his chin as he looked at the records that came up on Layla and all the other identities.

"This is pretty suspicious. Why would Layla's DNA be exactly like Luna's, which we have been trying to get for a while now," Ace said. "How did no one realize that the same person is reappearing in other places where the others haven't been staying at? Wouldn't anyone looking this up be suspicious?" Tech nodded his head.

"Same question I had. It seemed it was able to pass easily without a second thought. There aren't many online pictures of these people. It was like they don't want anyone to see their image anywhere," he said. Ace kept looking at it before putting his hand on his hip.

"I think we're going to have to do more research on these people as well as on Layla and Luna. This doesn't seem natural at all." And with that Ace, stepped away from Tech and walked away, seeing the files more clearly now. Something was not right if they couldn't even find the energy sources of their powers after so long.


	8. Curiouser and Curiouser

After the tour Lexi gave Layla, they met up with Duck, Slam, and Rev who came back from watching a basherball game. Duck's eyes widened with his mouth wide open as he looked between Luna and Layla. "Seriously. You two could be each other's double or long lost twin," Duck told them.

"Yeah-if-you-two-dressed-up-exactly-the-same-and-did-the-same-mannerisms-and-maybe-Luna-wore-a-wig-or-Layla–did-too-maybe-then-you-guys-would-be-very-hard-to-identify-unless-you-get-DNA-testing-or-showed-different-facial-expressions," Rev rambled on. Layla was a little confused about what he said and turned to Lexi.

"He means that you two would be hard to tell apart if you wore and did the same things," Lexi explained. Layla and Luna then understood this and nodded.

"Oooh. I guess we could. We might as well be doppelgangers, right?" Layla said with a smile. While the girls got to hang out with the team, there were two that were still inside the labs and on the computers.

Tech continued his search as he was almost disturbed by his findings. It led from person to person to person when he searched the girls. He must have come across a hundred of the same girls by now. Ace was next to him, watching every single identity pop up.

"It's an endless list of people popping up here. All from different places and even different nations here in Acmetropolis," Tech said. Ace nodded as he had noticed that.

"True. And it seems the farther back we go, we can still find more. This isn't right," Ace added. "Try going back several decades. I doubt we will find them from even before then."

Tech nodded and started his search on the faces of the girls from forty years before. He hoped more of these profiles wouldn't show up and almost held his breath. It wouldn't be right if they did show up even back then. Ace had a hunch that they wouldn't even be born in that time since they only seemed to be twenty years or so. The computer went on its search and soon showed several identities with the same face and DNA. Tech gasped a little as Ace widened his eyes in surprise.

"Seriously? They're still around even then?"

"How is that even possible? There is no way they would even exist in that period," Tech said as he started to analyze them. They had many similarities to all the other ones that he had seen. "This can't be possible."

Ace cooled himself down and turned to Tech. "Go back another decade. We have to make sure about all these identities," he said. Tech went right to it and started to go back ten more years in his search. More were found. "Okay. This is starting to freak me out. This is not normal."

"Especially with identical pictures and DNA. It would be normal if it were just the picture, but there is no replica of DNA in two people. Not even identical twins have the same DNA no matter how alike they look," Tech explained. Tech decided to continue his search and go back further to 60 years. More identities showed up. They went further and further to see when all this would end until they went back exactly 128 years until they didn't get any new identities of these girls. Tech and Ace looked at all these piles of people in their database. "There must be thousands of backgrounds of these girls."

"There's no way," Ace said. "This is insane. "

"This makes the girls suspicious. There can't be this many people with the same face, same voice, and same DNA," Tech said.

"Something isn't right here. We'll have to investigate this more," Ace said. "We have to get that sword that Luna carries around as well to be able to unlock the strange power that emanates from it. I'll leave the research to you."

"You got it, Chief," Tech said as he started to analyze the girls and try to figure out what they were. He looked over their DNA and felt like he had seen something similar to theirs on a different occasion that didn't let him get a good look. And the fact that it was so different from both human and anthro DNA made it suspicious.

Ace watched over for a while before deciding he might need to clear his head a little and headed towards the training room. He knew he had to tell Zadavia about their discovery and might need to get some of her help as well to figure this out. He wasn't sure if he should say to her right away or if they got stumped with this.


	9. Reunion

After the gang introduced Layla to Zadavia, they went to try getting used to their new member. It was now evening as everyone went to bed, Layla in her new room. There was a dark figure standing outside of Layla's door, opening it slowly before entering. Layla lay in bed as the mysterious figure came silently and walked over to her sleeping form. The figure stretched out a hand and started to reach for Layla when a hand grabbed it in midair.

Layla had sat up quickly and grabbed the hand, the moonlight starting to shine in to reveal the dark figure as Luna, her hair wavy in brunette color and cat ears popping out from between her hair. "Luna," Layla whispered. Luna's face showed a mix of joy and concern as a tear ran down her cheek.

"Layla," she whispered as well. Layla let go of her hand, and Luna sat down next to her, both staring at each other for a few seconds before they reached out and hugged each other tightly. Tears ran down from each other's eyes as they hugged each other and rubbed each other's back lightly. "I missed you so much." Layla nodded, something poking out of Layla's hair as well.

"I missed you too, Lil sis," Layla said. They separated and smiled at each other happily. "I was so worried about you since we had to separate after that incident." Luna nodded as well.

"Yeah. I was worried that something happened to you since they seemed to be able to find some of our tracks here." Layla nodded her head.

"Same here. I'm just glad you're safe and sound. I didn't expect us to be recruited to be part of the Loonatics. Or that we would be able to use our powers freely once more without a problem." Luna nodded her head.

"You got that right... Hey...is it alright if I sleep with you tonight? I want us to hang out a little more before the Loonatics find out the truth." Layla smiled softly and nodded.

"Of course. Plus, I may have been doing some sneaky stuff that they will eventually have to find out about, and I want to clear it up with them before they mark me off as a villain." Luna giggled softly and quietly, trying not to alarm the others even if they were asleep. The girls were just precarious. They talked for a good while, catching up on times missed before they ended up sleeping on the bed facing each other with their fingers intertwined, cat ears popping out from both their heads and a striped tail behind their bottoms until morning. The next morning, the Loonatics were having breakfast as Luna walked in, with no ears or tail insight.

"Good morning," she said. She went to the fridge and made herself a quick breakfast sandwich, getting a cup of juice to go with it. She took it to the table and started to eat breakfast as if she was living there now. Layla came in afterward with a smile, no tail or cat ears as well.

"Good morning, everyone," she said happily.

"Morning, Layla. You're pretty chipper in the morning," Tech commented, drinking a cup of coffee while looking at the newspaper.

"Well, I've always been an early bird." Layla made herself an omelet and sat down in the empty chair beside Luna. She hummed happily as she got comfortable and started to eat. It seemed almost like the secret meet-up the night before hadn't even happened. As the girls ate their breakfast, Duck stared at them eat and how some of their mannerisms were alike.

"You two say you're not twins and have never known each other ever, but you two act the same when eat," he said bluntly. They looked at him, surprised.

"Wow. I never expected you to be so observant, Duck," Ace said as he was getting himself a second helping of cereal.

"Seems like your IQ is starting to level up a little," Layla teased a little. Duck was not amused.

"Excuse me, but I can be observant. In fact, I am very observant," Duck retorted.

"Then, did you observe that you're spilling your shake everywhere?" Luna asked with a raised brow as she continued to eat like it wasn't a big deal. Duck was confused by this as he then looked down and realized he was spilling his protein shake on his chest.

"I'm surprised you didn't feel it in general. Maybe the costume is making your feathers go numb," she said sarcastically. Duck panicked as he put his cup upright and on the table.

"Cold! Very Cold!" Duck cried out as he got up and left the room in a rush. Luna smirked a little as Layla snickered slightly.

"Does he make mistakes like that every day? If so, I'm going to enjoy staying here," Layla said as she continued to eat.

"He does so many we've lost count, several during missions as well. But the ones here are the best," Lexi said.

"I like your attitudes about all this. Usually, when people hear about having powers and meet us, they would freak out and ask a million questions. Or panic in a bad way. Yet you two are taking all this well," Tech said as he took a sip from his coffee. Luna and Layla paused for a moment when she stood up with her plate.

"Oh um....well, I find this pretty exciting rather than panicky. And the fact that I have powers too is amazing. I mean, I would never have imagined that." Layla went to the dishwasher and put her plate there as Luna finished up and did the same.

"I....sort of expected it, though I didn't expect to be recruited. I was freaking out at first when you guys showed up and told me you were looking for me," Luna said as she leaned against the wall, stuffing her hands in her pockets when she finished.

"Maybe so, but dat's how it was for all of us. We noticed we had powers, and Zadavia recruited us all. Realizing we had powers at first was scary, yes, but we all managed to get the hang of it and our new jobs. We didn't expect to become heroes," Ace explained. "Except Duck...he was excited to be a hero since day one." Layla smiled as Luna smiled a bit at hearing this.

"Well, we have our day full with our recruits. Let's get to work on checking on Layla's powers and her combat skills before we get to working on their uniforms," Tech said as he had finished his coffee and placed the cup in the dishwasher.

"This-is-going-to-be-great!We-already-know-Luna's-powers-well-some-of-them-at-least-it-was-incredible-when-she-was-fighting-she-took-down-the-drones-like-they-we-just-paper-balls-and-without-using-a-weapon-it-was-all-her-powers-and-it-was-so-cool-how-she-sliced-them-in-half-like-she-had-a-sword-when-she-didn't-and-actually-used-wind-can-you-b-" Rev went on as Tech soon grabbed his beak.

"I think that's enough, Rev. We can show her the footage later so she can have an idea of what you're talking about," Tech said before letting go.

"Sounds fun," Layla said as she followed Tech, who was heading to the lab.


	10. Chapter 10

Layla was in the simulation room in some workout clothes that Lexi let her borrow, which fit her a bit tight and small. Her hair was up in a low ponytail, making sure her feline ears were hidden. They didn't go to Layla's place to pick up some clothes as they did for Luna. However, that meant some of the guys were ogling over how her body looked in the outfit.

"Alright. We already put in a microchip in your arm to see what your powers could be while you fight. I'll put it in the easiest setting just in case," Tech said as he was setting up the simulator. Layla nodded with a smile.

"No problem. I'll try my best! This should be pretty fun," she said. Tech turned on the simulator once she was ready.

"Ready? Go!" A figure appeared and ran over to Layla, aiming to take her down. Layla quickly bent down a bit before giving it a sidekick and making it fly a few feet. She got back into a starter position as another figure ran to her from her other side. She quickly gave a hard jab at it as it grabbed her arm and used the force to take her down. Layla was surprised a bit before she gave a hard kick at its legs, making it fall and disintegrate. She was keeping up on her own despite seeming like an amateur to everyone else. After a few more minutes, Tech ended the simulation, and the figures disappeared. Layla was panting a bit as she then walked over to the entrance, Lexi handing her a towel to wipe off any sweat.

"You did pretty well there," she complimented.

"Thanks. I learned some of those moves from work out videos I have a home. They're kind of the easiest kickboxing moves to work out to," Layla explained. "That and I was in short flags in high school."

"You were in short flags? I had tried out for cheerleading, but they didn't think I was good enough."

"I'm sure you were too good for them anyway. They were probably jealous."

"She's right. I've seen some of your fights on TV and I can tell you incorporate some cheerleading stunts into it," Luna said as she walked over.

"Thanks, you two," Lexi said with a smile.

"Speaking of fighting, where did you learn to fight, Luna?" Ace asked as he walked over.

"Oh. I had learned self-defense when I was little," Luna explained.

"I see. Anyways, it looks like we're done over here. Why don't you goils take a break while Tech analyzes the data?" The girls nodded with a smile.

"Definitely," Lexi said.

"I need a quick shower since I sweat a bit from the simulation," Layla said.

"I'll lend you some clothes," Luna said as all three girls left. Slam, Rev, and Duck had left as well, leaving Tech and Ace alone.

"Tech, anyting on the data?" Ace asked, turning and walking to Tech..

"Same as Luna. Super strength and restraint on another power. It seemed like that was more controlled in hiding it, though, because I was hardly able to detect it," Tech explained, showing his data to Ace.

"I see. Our two recruits are quite interesting, indeed. We have to inform Zadavia about this and see if she can check on anyting else on them."

"You got it, chief." Tech saved the data they gathered and started to head over to the hologram to talk to Zadavia. Ace left as he thought about how he could get the girls to lower their defenses, both deep in thought. Tech had called Zadavia informed her of everything they gathered and had sent a copy of the files to her as well.

"This is indeed unbelievable," Zadavia said thoughtfully.

"No kidding. All I could notice is that the farther back we went, they looked just a little younger each time. Almost like they aged slowly. The average human lives up to their 80s. The ones that live up to 100 or a bit more is a miracle, but they're aged extremely, not young," Tech explained.

"Hmm.....there is one plausible reason for this..."

"You know something, Zadavia?"

"Well, I think I know what could be the reason they have lived for so long, but I'll have to look into it to be sure. Make sure they don't leave your sights and keep the appearance that nothing is out of the ordinary. Find the right moment to take the sword Luna guards all the time and continue your research."

"Got it. I'll pass the word on to Ace."

"Good. I'll call you all in a bit for another mission that seems interesting enough. Zadavia, out." With that, Zadavia's hologram disappeared and the room went back to normal. Tech headed out to inform Ace on what Zadavia's instructions were.

* * *

In a separate location, there was a large room that was darkly lit with a man at a desk, looking at the many large monitors behind him. All that could be seen from him was his silhouette from the lighting of the monitors, obscuring how he looked. On each television showed different scenes and locations: some of the Loonatics with Ace on it, and on others were a few of Luna and Layla in many various disguises before they met the Loonatics. A man walked into the room and headed to the desk, the silhouette turning in his seat to face him.

"You called for me, sir?" the man asked in a detached tone.

"Yes. How was the capture of Crescent and Gibbous?" the silhouette asked. His voice was deep and intimidating, matching his figure well.

"I'm sorry to say, sir, but both captures were a failure. It seemed Waning Crescent didn't catch the warning you sent and escaped with the help of three unexpected people. Third Quarter kept moving location and threw us off even if we have the equipment to nullify her powers. According to some of our agents that were able to tail Waning Crescent, both have taken refuge at Loonatics HQ," the man explained straightforwardly.

"Hmm...interesting....seems like this will be quite the reunion, don't you think? Two of our escapees meeting a retired agent." The man placed his hands together, intertwining his fingers in thought. "Looks like we'll have to get in contact with him to get what we want. Hack into their systems with the Night Baron virus so they can't detect us and find a way for us to communicate. Make sure only 'he' gets our coded message and deciphers it. You're dismissed."

The silhouette turned back to the monitors as he examined the scenes, the man leaving after a bow. "Looks like your days will have to go back to the past, little one." The silhouette let out a deep dark chuckle that could send chills down one's spine.


	11. Not Your Average Weapon

It was night time, and all the Loonatics were in bed except for two people. Luna had gone to sleep in Layla's room again secretly, leaving her sword hidden in the place where they wouldn't expect it to be. Luna's bedroom door opened silently and slowly, a figure walking in and searched throughout the whole place, making sure to leave things like they were before. After a while, they opened a drawer and pulled it out completely, not finding it inside the contents. It looked into the furniture itself and found Luna's sword in the back, hidden just underneath the drawer itself. It left with the sword in silence before anyone noticed they were in there. It headed to the lab, the light revealing the figure was Ace. He walked over to Tech, who was sitting at the supercomputer.

"Did you get it, Ace?" Tech asked as he turned to him. Ace showed him the sword in its scabbard and nodded.

"You bet. I never expected her to hide it between a drawer and a dresser. She's smart...and take lots of precautions," he said as he walked over to Tech.

"Alright. Now, we put it into my scanner to examine it and see what is up with this sword and why she suspiciously keeps it from us." Tech stood up and walked over to another screen with a platform next to it.

"No kidding. Just from carrying this sword, I can feel something is off about this. It's light, but something about it leaves it feeling heavy at the touch." Ace followed Tech and put the sword on the platform. The platform hummed as light emanated from the top as it scanned the item on top of it. The results started to come up on the screen while Tech examined it, a picture coming up with it.

"Hmm.....now this is interesting," Tech commented as he started to type.

"What's up, doc."

"Well, here's the thing. This thing is old. You could say that it's thousands of years old."

"Thousands of years old?!"

"Not only that, but it's a mysterious sword. You could say it holds secret properties like your sword, Ace. Only this one also amplifies Luna's wind manipulation. The crazier part is that this thing was last registered in any records in the universe 300 years ago."

"So this thing is not only powerful, but it has been missing for 300 years only to be found here in a troubled goil's hands, claiming it is a family heirloom..."

"The thing about it being a family heirloom is true. It was part of a family collection before it disappeared without a trace." Ace put a hand on his chin in thought. "Another thing is that it seems to activate only for its true owner...think Luna might be it?"

"I don't know for sure...but it might be so." Ace remembered back at the training room when Luna seemed to reach for what he could now guess was her sword. "Now I'm just questioning how Luna got her hands on this and how it was that she was never under anyone's radar..."

"Whatever it is, we were able to scan it and get more information on it. I'll look into it more and see what else comes up."

"Yeah. I'll return this before anyone soiches for it." Ace picked up the sword once more and started to head out.

"Were you able to search for it while Luna was asleep? I would be surprised she didn't wake up at all."

"Funny thing about that...She wasn't in the room. However, I still searched in the dark just in case she was hiding somewhere." Ace headed out and put the sword away silently and in the dark once more, making sure nothing seemed out of place. 

* * *

Meanwhile, with Tech, he was getting through some more information that he found, something else came up secretly as well. Something hard to decipher if one didn't know the key to solving the code. Tech noticed this little fact and found it strange.

'What is this code? Something's off about it. It doesn't necessarily seem important, but it came up with all of this information... I'll have to show this to Ace when he comes back before we head to bed,' he thought as he set it aside and continued to look through more details about the sword and how it could connect to their research on the two mysterious girls they brought with them.

* * *

The man in the shadows sat at his desk as the door to his office open once more. The man from before entered and walked over to the desk, bowing in respect.

"We sent the message, and it is being observed right now. We believe it is Agent Bunny reviewing it right now, but it could be the scientist of the Loonatics," he reported.

"Excellent. We should be receiving news from him soon. He'll be trying to contact us the way he did before. Let's have a greeting party ready for him once he gets there," the silhouette said. The man nodded before he gave one last bow and left to do as he was ordered to. "It'll be fun to talk to him once more. I'm curious to see how he will react when everything unfolds."


	12. Secret Meetings and New Cases

It was the next day, and it seemed like any other day. People were walking around, doing their own business, some working while others were lazing around. However, there was one individual that was among them with a mission of his own without his uniform. Ace was looking around from the corners of his eyes, checking if anyone was following him or if anyone looked like bad news. He continued searching until he found the place he was looking for: a public phone booth with a screen to use for video calls. He stepped inside as he made sure no one would see or hear his conversation before dialing a number he never thought he would call ever again. After a few seconds, the screen lit up to reveal the darkroom with a silhouetted man. It was a man who's only recognizable feature is his power emanating from his posture.

"Well, if it isn't Agent Bunny. Or should I call you by your new name now?" the man asked, trying to be friendly, but his deep, dark voice had the opposite effect.

"Enough about dat, boss...why did you contact me. We agreed that you wouldn't bother me anymore after you let me go free," Ace said assertively. He glared at the screen, his anger rising inside of him.

Ace remembered back to the middle of the night after he had returned to the lab, having dropped off Luna's sword where it was before. He saw Tech was busying around trying to decipher the code that had appeared while Ace was gone.

"Hey, Tech... what's with da numbers and letters on the screen that looks like mumbo jumbo?" Ace asked as he walked over.

"I'm not sure myself. I dug into as much as I could about Luna's sword and didn't come up with much. However, this code suddenly popped up along with it. I was going to show it to you earlier, but it was right after you left. So I just waited and decided to work on it right now," Tech explained, his eyes never leaving the screen. "However, it's tough to crack since it's random. Hard to figure out what it means. I think it's a cipher code, but I need to figure out what the key to solving this is."

Ace looked at the screen and put a hand on his chin, trying to help Tech as he tried to figure it out in his mind. He continued to examine when he realized a familiar pattern.

"Hey, Tech...what if you take out the numbers that repeat the most. Letters too," Ace suggested. Tech did so, and the code started to clear up a bit. He blinked and glanced at Ace before looking back at the screen.

"I think from here I can see what way to take," Tech said as he started to decipher it. Ace nodded, watching Tech work his magic with the code. After several minutes passed by, Tech was able to solve it to reveal an image of an Ace of Spades with a caption underneath:

_'We will be waiting for your call. 8473.'_

Tech looked at it in confusion while Ace's face paled under his fur, his eyes wide open. "It seems like this was all for nothing, Ace." Tech turned to Ace and was surprised to see Ace look...ill. "Ace, are you okay? You don't look well."

Ace shook his head as he turned away.

"I'm alright...I think I need to rest. I haven't been able to sleep well lately," he brushed off before turning to walk away. "Um...can you erase dat code we found? I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with what we're looking into."

Tech hesitated a bit before obeying and deleting it, noticing how it bothered Ace.

"You got it, Chief."

Ace came back to his senses as the man on the screen shook his head with a light chuckle. "Of course, that's what we promised. I'm not bothering you. I just wanted to greet you and see how our special agent is doing. It's been four years since you completed your last mission and became a member of society," he said. Ace balled up his fists while the man watched in amusement. "Looks like you've changed a lot, Ace of Spades."

"I have. I'm not one of your underlings anymore. And my name's Ace Bunny."

"Right right. After your last mission, you decided to stick with that. Well, I only wanted to contact you about the two new members you got in your tower. We have more information on them than you and your team would ever find on your own."

"...how do you know about dat...we haven't even made public that we have new members..." Ace leaned on the screen, almost threateningly.

"Oh, Ace...you may have left us, but we've never stopped watching you. I can send you the information about them that we have here and you can go on about your business. We won't bother you anymore."

"...I don't believe you one bit, boss. I know you very well...what exactly do you want once you give me the info on them. You don't just call an old member for nut'n."

"You've grown perceptive as well. I'll tell you what I want after you talk to them. I recommend you show them the file I'll send you, and they'll know what it means. One of them is running away from a mean organization that's after them, correct? She'll tell you more." A ring sounded out from Ace's pocket as he looked down at it. He pulled out his phone and opened up the file that showed the first page was a symbol of two crescent moons back to back with an arrow through it.

"Is this the symbol of the organization looking for them?" Ace put away the file and his phone as he looked back to the screen with the man on it.

"Yes. You'll be surprised by her reaction. If she doesn't respond right away of her knowledge, pressure her a bit. That's all I wanted to tell you. Until the next time, you call. Use the same pin I sent. Farewell...Ace." The screen went black as the call ended. Ace sighed and rubbed his forehead with his eyes closed, mentally exhausted.

"This is getting a lot more complicated...I don't like him...and I've got a bad feeling about this," he mumbled to himself before he left the booth, feeling more unsettled about it all compared to before.

* * *

Back at headquarters, Tech was in his lab with Layla, Luna, and Lexi as Tech pulled out two Loonatics suits with their colors being blue and black and the other white and black, a mask for their faces instead of the usual hood mask that all the others wore since they were human.

"Took me all night to make these. Hopefully, they'll fit properly. If not, they automatically adjust themselves to fit comfortably," Tech explained as he handed the suits to the girls. Layla got a blue and black suit while Luna got the white and black outfit. The girls put it on top of the clothes they wore at the moment to check it out before holding it in their arms.

"Thanks, Tech. These look awesome," Layla said enthusiastically. "I've always wanted to try these on, but I never thought I would wear the official suit. You even made me a hat as I requested."

"You are amazing. I think you deserve some good rest if you worked on this all night," Luna said with a pat on his shoulder.

"Definitely. Hey, have you seen Ace?" Tech mentioned.

"I think he said he was going out somewhere after breakfast and that he'd be right back. He was out of his uniform, so I don't think it was something having to do with our job," Lexi said.

"If you say so," Tech said. _'Then was him looking not well just my imagination?...something isn't right.'_ "Well, go ahead and try them on. After you put them on, we'll go to the training simulator so you can get used to it in combat." The girls nodded before they went to their respective rooms to try on the suits.

After a few minutes, the girls were in the training simulator, standing outside of it as all the others took in how they looked in their uniforms, Ace not among them. Since they had the exact body shape, their suit fit them nicely and showed off their curved body. Slam whistled at how they looked and clapped, making both girls blush. Luna tried to hide her body by hugging herself a bit. Layla giggled at how shy Luna was being.

"Aw, Slam. You're making her self-conscious. And she's not even showing a lot of skin," Layla teased both Slam and Luna. Slam tilted his head curiously.

"Habbuhgradiwara sowwy," Slam jumbled while looking at Luna with a little sadness.

"Ok ok. That's enough teasing, Layla," Tech said as he walked over to them. "Now, I want you two to go in there and try out your suits while doing some training. Don't worry about the material ripping. I made it out of material that is very flexible and doesn't rip easily since we have a very demanding job." The girls nodded and went inside the simulator.

"You'll start it off easy, right?" Layla asked.

"Of course. You have to get used to your suit. We'll start with an easy setting to get you warmed up before doing anything more." Layla and Luna stretched a little as Tech went over to the controls and set everything up. "Ready, you two? Keep in mind. This is also for you two to start working on teamwork too."

"Got it."

"Ready," Luna said.

Tech nodded and started up the system. The girls got back-to-back and got into a fighting position as parts of the wall opened up to release drones with blades, swerving around as they flew at them. Luna dodged by ducking while Layla jumped up as the drones flew between them. Layla launched herself off Luna's back with her hands before landing on her feet and kicking upward a drone headed her way. Luna had stood up and manipulated some wind to push back the two drones headed their way. As Layla rushed one drone, Luna went the opposite direction at another one, and both jumped up at the same time, punching down at the drones to make them fall and break apart.

The girls continued to fight on like that, synchronizing their attacks even if they were different moves, all while they didn't open their mouths to talk to each other. Both girls worked off each other like they had fought before together, making the others amazed and Tech a little suspicious. He raised the difficulty and added in some simulation fighter droids to make it harder on them and see if they could take them on together. Layla and Luna saw the droids come in and started to fight them as well. Luna seemed to be able to keep up with the change, but Layla looked like she was having a bit of a hard time on her own. They were pushed back enough that they ended up once again back-to-back as they fought.

"...duck," Luna mumbled as Layla did so without hesitation. Luna had her hand perfectly stretched as she slashed the air as if it were a blade, continuing the flow of movement to get the droids that were all around them in a 360. Doing so showed a long scratch on them as if a blade slashed across their chests as they fell, no matter the distance from her. As Luna put down her hand, Layla stood up and got ready to fight the next wave.

"Thanks," Layla said.

As the new wave of droids rushed them, Ace had arrived once again in his uniform, noticing everyone had crowded around the windows to the simulator. He walked over to Tech and looked through the window to see Layla and Luna fighting the droids in complete Loonatics uniform.

"You got their uniforms done nicely, Tech," he said.

"Thank you. It was hard to do both so quickly and in a tight schedule, but I managed to make something suitable for them and also added a few extra features to their communicators," Tech responded as he watched on.

"Looks like those two know how to fight as partners without much problem. Pretty amazing."

"No kidding. I'm making sure to record data on their movements and their usage of powers. For reference."

"Dat's good." Ace continued to watch as Layla and Luna continued to fight until they seemed to be slowing down and dodging more. Ace looked to Tech, who nodded in return and turned off the simulator.

"Simulation over," the computer announced as the droids disappeared. The girls breathed a bit heavy as they went over to the door to meet with all the others over them.

"That was amazing, you two!" Lexi said in awe.

"You two were fighting together like it was the most natural thing to do. Until the end, where you two messed up," Duck said.

"No-kidding-but-it-really-was-amazing-it-looked-almost-like-you-two-communicated-telepathically-since-there-were-words-hardly-uttered-I-mean-SERIOUSLY- that-was-so-cool-if-we-were-all-in-actual-combat-that-would-be-SUPER-AWESOME!" Rev ranted, not letting anyone really catch on to what he said.

"Yeah, what speedy said," Duck said, pointing his thumb in Rev's direction. Ace walked over to the two.

"There's no way. Maybe I have done teamwork before for a dance routine, but I don't think Luna has," Layla said. Luna shook her head in agreement with her.

"Martial Arts mostly teaches how to fight solo. I've hardly practiced doing it with a group, much less with Layla," Luna responded with ease.

"Either way, you two did a great job together," Ace said as he approached them. Luna and Layla smiled their different smiles to him. "Maybe we should go for a practice run in the field to see how you two work with the team."

"That's an excellent idea, Ace," a half computerized voice sounded. A hologram soon appeared on one of the screens close by, revealing Zadavia with her rainbow hologram. "It so appears I found a small case they can take care of with a few more of the team. It's an investigation mission on a robbery at a museum."

"Isn't that more for the police to take care of rather than us?" Duck asked. "Or is it another case of Massive on a rampage again."

"It seems like a robbery, but it's a planned one, and it is a serial robbery. The culprit is hard to detect and attacks at random, taking different items and making their MO difficult. Even the cameras have a hard time capturing how this person looks like or how they do it. However, the only clues we can find similar for each case is that it always takes place at night, steals three a year, and they send a notice to the police of what they'll steal and when it will happen."

"This sounds like a phantom thief. If the police receive a notice each time, couldn't they put up more security or take down the thief?" Tech asked in thought.

"They have already tried, but they seem to slip through their grasp. The police never realize the items were stolen until later on. Even with many sensors and traps around it," Zadavia responded.

"Eeeh...mind showing us what one of their calling cards look like, Zadavia?" Ace asked.

"Of course, Ace."

An image of a card replaced Zadavia's face as it showed in perfect cursive writing words with a symbol at the edge of the card, a signature next to it. Ace stared at the symbol, noting it was an image of two crescent moons back to back with an arrow through them. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed Layla and Luna glance at each other for a split second before turning back to the screen.

"They have some wonderful writing. I'll give them that," Lexi said.

"I don't think I would be able to write that neatly," Layla chimed in.

"You sure it's not printed? It looks pretty fake to me," Duck added.

"It's handwritten and authentic, Duck," Zadavia corrected.

"It says, 'I will steal the Queen's precious Cat's Eye necklace.' It's signed by someone named 'Luna Oscura, ' which is Spanish for 'Dark Moon.' Wonder why they chose that name," Tech added. 

"Maybe the footage of one of the robberies will help." The photo of the card shrunk down to the corner as footage of what looked like a semi-dark, closed museum came up. The only light coming in was from the moonlight through the windows and dim lights on all the art pieces to show where it was. A guard walked around and passed by a glass casket with said necklace, shining a flashlight around as if making sure everything was there. The room was dark once more after he left. Suddenly, a shadow appeared, the low lighting making it hard to identify the person as they opened the casket without a problem and took the necklace without triggering any alarms. The person turned to the camera, eyes glowing like a cat's before the shadow disappeared, ending the clip.

"As you can see, they took the jewel as if it was child's play and mocked the camera," Zadavia said.

"This person had glowing cat eyes. It's so obviously an anthro," Duck said. "We don't need to go down to investigate."

"Yet the person was as tall as the average human. That doesn't make sense. Were there any fingerprints left?" Tech asked Zadavia.

"There were no fingerprints found, and everything in the museum was functioning properly at that time. But for some reason, the alarms were not triggered, and there were no traces of anything being hacked," she responded.

"That thief sounds too good to be an ordinary thief," Lexi said.

"Giebogntoeabgksnbofbuebjgn," Slam added.

"I-don't-think-this-person-will-be-out-for-your-secret-stash-Slam," Rev said, placing a hand on Slam's arm.

"Either way, I'd like a few of you to go down there to investigate. It should be alright to take Layla and Luna as it doesn't seem like something dangerous for now. Zadavia out." Zadavia's hologram disappeared, leaving the Loonatics in thought.

"Alright. Here's the plan. Lexi, Tech, Luna, Layla, and I will go down to investigate. Rev. Duck. Slam. Stay alert in case something major happens," Ace said, turning to each Loonatic. Everyone nodded in agreement with his decision.

"I'll be in charge of the tower while you're not here," Duck said with his beak up high.

"Eh, whatever you say, Duck. Loonatics, let's jet."


	13. Midnight Robbery at the Museum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating the story much. School has had me very occupied and I've had less time to spend on it. No worries. I'll still try to update so you guys can continue enjoying the mystery.

The Loonatics arrived at their destination with help from their jet. They landed close by in an open area before stepping out into the streets.

"That was so cool! I've never been on a plane before, much less a jet," Layla said as she walked out.

"I think I may have gotten a bit sick during the ride," Luna mumbled as she walked out of the jet slowly. She leaned against the jet with a hand to get herself together as Lexi, Tech, and Ace got off quickly. Layla went over to Luna to check on her, Lexi approaching as well.

"Is she going to be alright?" Lexi asked.

"I think so. It just seems like she got a bit of motion sickness," Layla replied. After a bit, Luna stood up properly, taking a deep breath.

"I'm better. I think I might need to get used to riding the jet more. Then I won't really get that sick," Luna commented.

"Probably. Have you ever ridden a jet or plane before?"

"Not in forever ago, much less a jet."

"Then you definitely need to get used to it. We use it a lot if we don't use our jetpacks," Lexi added.

"Got it." The girls walked away toward the guys, who were waiting for them just at the museum's entrance, a man waiting for them in formal-casual wear.

"Is everything okay?" Ace asked them.

"Yeah. I just got a little motion sick," Luna responded to ease them.

"I hope you don't get too much motion sickness." Ace turned to the semi-casually dressed man. "These two are our new recruits. Meet Layla and Luna. Goils, dis is Detective Evan Grant. He's in charge of dis case." The girls respectively shook hands with Evan while Ace said their names.

"Thank you for coming. I didn't think you would have to be involved in something like robbery, but it seems it can't be helped," Evan said. "Let me show you the way." The detective turned around and started to walk into the museum, guiding them through the labyrinth.

"We have security cameras all around this whole building and on every single angle in each room. We have no idea how this person could have entered without making a single sound or a single trace. We checked the perimeter over and over and still can't find clues. Not even the cameras were messed with. This is the toughest case we've got in a long time." After a bit, they made it to the room where everything seemed perfectly fine except that the entrances were closed off by police tapes.

"Why didn't this person attempt to steal anything else? They had ample opportunity to do so if they were able to sneak in so easily," Tech observed.

"This person only ever steals what they aim for in their note. Anything else is of no importance to them, it seems.."

"Interesting. My biggest question is why they steal once in a while and not continuously," Ace added, putting a finger to his chin in thought.

"Maybe this necklace could be of some importance to them. Some museums do get some of their items illegally," Layla pointed out as she looked at one of the items around.

"We asked the owner, and he didn't want to answer that. He just simply said that he got them authenticated and got them through donation." The detective put his hands into his pockets as he watched the team look around.

"Mind if I use something to try to figure it out more? I'll need the whole area," Tech asked as he started to take out a small bulky monitor.

"Be my guest. I don't think you'll find anything else." The detective moved back a bit as if to give him his space, the rest of the team doing the same. Tech pressed some buttons on the monitor before a red light brightened up from the top of the monitor, turning the screen red as well.

"Hey, Doc. What exactly is that."

"It's a sort of heat seeker and footprint finder for now. It has other features, but I call it the Bio-Detector 3000," Tech explained as he started to scan the whole area, making sure to examine the footprints of their thief to make sure to follow that one precisely. After a few seconds, the monitor showed their desired print and revealed there were more footprints than what they had seen without the monitor.

"Gotcha. It looks like they were able to hide their footprints from our sight, but not via the monitor," Tech said happily, following the prints.

"Great job, Tech."

"You seriously outdo yourself a lot, don't you?" Layla asked with a smile. Tech let out a small chuckle, his light blush hidden in his fur.

"Hehe, thanks." Tech focused again on the monitor. "This person clearly made sure to try to hide their tracks and had hopes that they would mix with everybody else's."

"They seriously don't want to be caught. How were they able to hide their footprints is the million-dollar question," Luna added as she observed.

"Well, that much is obvious. Just let everyone else come in and step everywhere to hide it," Lexi said. All of them followed Tech as he continued before he found where the tracks started and ended. He looked up and saw there was a vent opening just above them.

"That should be their entry and exit," Ace pointed out.

"Classic move if you ask me. If they were able to go through the front door, they would have been seen easier," Luna added as she crossed her arms.

"We should check out what's up there. Would you goils like to try it out?"

"Sure. We need a little boost, though." Luna got ready to boost up any of the other girls to get them up to the vent, bending her legs and cupping her hands together. Lexi stepped back before running and jumping off Luna's hands up to the vents. She grabbed onto it and felt it loosen.

"They definitely used the vents. They didn't even put it back very well," Lexi said as she moved the cover aside, making sure she didn't fall down. She slipped inside and looked around in the darkness.

"Can't see in here very well, but they were definitely in here. There's dust that got moved, and a few cobwebs got destroyed." Lexi got down and made sure to distribute the fall, bending down with the motion.

"Nice work, you two. We finally got a lead on dis case. Hey, Grant. Think we can go to da security room and double-check if the footage wasn't tampered with at all?" Ace asked as he turned to the detective.

"You can check it one more time, but I'm sure we've looked through it a million times by now and haven't found anything," Evan said. Evan guided the group from their spot over to a security room with two guards already there. The men stood up, and the detective waved a hand loosely to tell them to relax.

"Can you show us the footage from when the theft happened, please?" Tech asked as he got closer to the computer.

"Sure," one guard said as he turned back to the computer and started to pull up on one of the other screens the footage from before. Tech stood carefully and observed the footage, making sure to follow very carefully. The same footage Zadavia had shown them played on the screen. Tech could see there was almost no flaw to the video and no form that it was intercepted.

"May I have a hand on the computer?"

"Of course, sir." The guard got out of his seat and moved aside to let Tech take his place and mess with the computer. As he did his job, the girls and Ace observed him.

"This is pretty cool. Do you guys usually do this kind of detective work?" Layla asked her hands behind her back.

"Not normally. Only if it involves something that's a little out of the police's league or if they ask for our help," Lexi responded, placing her hands on her hips.

"Sometimes dey lead to some pretty big guys to fight. Example, Massive. He was just a thief, but he also had supa powers. Dat's when we had to step in," Ace explained.

"Pretty interesting," Luna added as she put a hand on her chin. Ace raised a brow at the girls, remembering his conversation with the man from before. 'It can't be true that they are involved with him...it would be too much of a coincidence.'

After a few more minutes, Tech exclaimed as if he found something. "What did you find, doc?"

"It turned out that the footage was tampered with. Well, the computer was hacked. It's just hard to figure out since this thief used a very sophisticated device to manipulate the time the cameras were on so that it looked like it was continuously playing. In reality, they replaced the footage for enough time to sneak in and make it look like they just appeared."

"Dat's very clever of them."

"If they were able to do that, then that means that we've been played a little too well this whole time," Evan exclaimed.

"In other words-" Layla started.

"A modern-day phantom thief." Luna finished. They looked at each other as if surprised that they finished each other's sentences.

"Right. Maybe we should take another look at what was stolen before to see if there's any connection back at headquarters." Tech started to get up and walk over to the group out the door.

"Good idea, Tech. Thanks for showing us around, Detective Grant." Ace extended a hand to Evan, the detective taking it.

"No problem. Anything to help our great heroes." Tech, Ace, Layla, Lexi, and Luna then started to walk out of the museum and to the jet.

"We have a lot of work to do now. Tech, think you're okay looking more into the items that got stolen? I'll have our new recruits train some more," Ace explained.

"No problem, chief."


	14. Incoming Battle

Ace, Lexi, Layla, and Luna were in the training room, practicing together and coordinating with one another.

"Since you're not used to fighting, maybe you can try to go on the defensive until you find an opening," Lexi suggested as they were in fighting positions.

"So, I have to look for a moment when they're wide open?" Layla asked. She stood a little stiff and not as confident as Lexi did.

"Yeah. You don't always have to be dodging. It's good if you do because of reflex, but you have to dodge right or you could end up unbalanced. For example." Lexi punched straight at her a little slowly, Layla stepping back and leaning away instinctively. Lexi smiled and pulled her hand back, going back into a starter position.

"That's good! Okay. Another way you can dodge is that you move to the side and push their punch away. Try it." Layla nodded and did a slow punch at Lexi. Lexi easily tilted to the side and pushed her arm away. "See?"

Layla and Lexi continued like this, Lexi teaching Layla different defense and offensive techniques while Luna and Ace stood further away from them, both in offensive fighting stances, legs apart and arms up. From Luna's arms being close to her body and protecting her face and her legs apart by just a bit, it almost looked like she was in a looser fighting stance.

But Ace knew better. He remained on guard as they circled each other slowly, being cautious and waiting for Luna to make the first move. In a quick motion, Luna stepped in and went in for a right hook at him. Ace quickly dodged and aimed to strike her core. Luna struck her arm down and diverted his attack away with a swipe away from them, grabbing his wrist and aimed for a quick strike to the face. Ace quickly stepped to the side and grabbed her wrist as well, leaving them almost at a deadlock.

However, Luna quickly kneed Ace. it struck true and he let go of her. She took advantage and tried pulling him forward to land another strike. He twisted her grip and used it to let go of him while he rolled out of the way. Luna held on a little tighter, instead, and fell down to the ground. He quickly took advantage and twisted her arm so that she ended up on her stomach with her arm pulled back. She groaned in pain and tapped the floor with her free arm.

"I yield."

Ace let go of her arm and got off her back. "You're not too shabby, Luna. Those were some pretty good moves."

"Thanks. Though I think I'm still rusty."

She started to get up with a small groan, her hair moving aside to reveal part of a strange mark at the back of her neck peeking out of the uniform.

He saw this and raised a brow, extending a hand to help her up. "You have a tattoo on your neck?"

Luna stiffened a bit and hid it with her hand quickly. "Uh, no. It's just an ugly birthmark." She took his hand and stood up.

"Didn't know that. I guess dat's why you have hair long enough to hide it."

She nodded her head and moved her hand away. "You were good too, Ace. Guess that makes sense since you're the leader of the team." Luna smiled a little to him.

"Eh, I already knew some moves before joining. Afterword, it was just having to train and get better at it. From there, we all just got better at fighting and incorporating our powers. From how you looked like yesterday and today, it looked like you already know how to." It wasn't easy to forget the small details of how he saw her controlled her moves and powers were to not harm anyone or destroy the room. Especially how he noted her grabbing for a sword.

"Well, when I found out about my powers, I tried practicing a few times with it at home or where no one was around. It's very hard to control too and make sure I don't hurt anyone. It's wind, so it can do more harm than good if I'm not careful." She started to walk away to get a bottle of water from the benches.

Ace followed after her and grabbed a towel. "That's true. I remember when we all got our powers scrambled and we ended up with another's powers. And boy, was it hard to fight. I ended up with Duck's powers and he ended up with mine."

she chuckled a little. "I can just imagine the chaos that happened." Luna took several big gulps of water before capping it. Ace thought about the boss man and how he seemed to imply what he knew about Luna's predicament.

_How is she connected to him too?_

"Hey, I know we asked you before what kind of trouble you got yourself involved in, but I have to ask...what was your boss like and what was his name? Maybe we can track him down and turn him in to the police." He noted how Luna tensed up a bit as she put the bottle down.

She shook her head as she grabbed a towel for her. "It won't work...at least, I don't think so... I looked up the guy's name online and he didn't come up anywhere, not even the organization they had me sign for." She sighed as she wiped off a bit of sweat around her neck.

"We can at least give it a try. We have more access and connections that we can look through to help bring dis guy to justice." Ace leaned against the wall as Luna sat down, both facing the other two girls practicing. Luna looked down at the ground while Ace looked at her expectantly.

"...If you say so. I think his name was-"

A sound of loud cry of pain interrupted Luna. She and Ace turned quickly saw Layla was on the ground.

"I'm so sorry!" Lexi apologized and helped Layla sit up. "Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?"

"It hurts, but...I think I can get over it." Layla slowly started to get up just to be careful. "I hope I don't get a concussion."

Ace went over to them to check on Layla, Luna standing up too. "I don't think you will, but we can always go check just in case. Don't want you hurt when trouble comes, right?" Ace stood next to Layla and helped her keep her balance.

Layla nodded her head a bit. "Right."

"I'll go take Layla to the lab. Maybe Tech can check on her." Luna went over to guide Layla to the lab. "It shouldn't take that long, right?"

"True. If you're hurt, then don't push yourself, okay?" Ace watched them carefully.

"You got it." The girls walked out of the training room and headed to the lab. As they walked away, Ace and Lexi watched them.

"Duck's right...they look a lot like twins," Lexi said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Eh, I think they act more like sisters. At least so far." Ace crossed his arms.

"I wouldn't blame them. If I saw a girl who looked like my twin, I would bond with her right away and become best friends." Lexi looked up at Ace. "You've been acting tense around them. Is something up?"

"It's nothing. Just curious about them is all. Don't you feel like they're hiding something?"

Lexi put a finger to her chin in thought, looking up curiously. "Well, not really, but I have noticed something weird. Sometimes Luna seems to trip on some things or she ends up bumping into the edges of walls sometimes. I think she's a bit of klutz, but that's it. Though...she does look like she's staring into space a lot instead of focused when talking to us."

"Yeeaah, that sounds like she's a bit of klutz is all. Nothing really big."

"Hey, what if you take them to go on patrol today? That'll help them know what we do on the field."

Ace put a hand on his chin and thought about it. "It doesn't sound too bad...alright. Rev and I will take them on patrol later. Make sure Duck doesn't get any bright ideas, okay?"

Lexi pouted lightly to hear she wasn't joining. "Aw. I wanted to be part of it too."

He smiled and rubbed Lexi's head playfully. "But if I don't leave you in charge, then who else will be my second-in-command? You come up with some pretty bright ideas, you know."

Lexi blushed under her fur and giggled a little, punching his arm lightly. "Alright alright. I'll stay. Just bring dinner when you come back. I'm sure pizza will be just fine."

"Now you're sounding like the boss," Ace teased with a smirk. He pulled his hand away and started to walk out of the room.

* * *

Rev, Ace, Luna, and Layla walked the streets of Acmetropolis, showing the girls the streets to patrol and what to look out for.

"Sometimes when we're out, we buy some food to take back to the team for lunch or dinner," Ace explained.

"Sometimes-when-we're-out-we'll-actually-come-across-a-crime-happening-and-we-can-take-care-of-it-quickly-or-sometimes-trouble-looks-for-us-and-we-end-up-in-these-crazy-chases-to-get-the-criminal," Rev went on.

"That's interesting. Are you guys always prepared to get into action when something does happen?" Luna asked curiously.

"We have to in order to get the bad guys quickly. That means stop what we're doing and prioritizing that," Ace added.

Luna nodded and looked around, as did Layla, taking in the street names and the area.

"Do you guys sometimes take a detour when you find something that catches your eye?" Layla asked innocently.

Ace chuckled a little as Rev stepped in, walking backward a bit. "Sometimes-we-do-but-usually-we-try-to-not-be-very-distracted."

They continued to walk and talk, sometimes Ace and Rev would sign autographs for people who asked for it or take a photo with some. Minutes turned into hours before they made it back to the tower, getting within a few blocks of it.

"My feet are killing me. Do you guys seriously walk that much every day?" Layla complained, relieved to see their destination ahead of them.

"Sometimes. We usually walk the areas closer to da tower and use hovercrafts and jetpacks for places dat are further away. And even then, we do take a few rest stops. We took some more today for both your sakes."

Layla groaned a little as she still seemed to not like the idea of walking so much either way. Luna seemed to just go with it, noting her personality was sometimes go-with-the-flow like right now. As they got closer to the entrance, shadows started to move, alleyways and rooftops seeming to no longer be empty. Ace put his guard up as his smile turned into a serious look.

"I think we've got some company," he said softly, trying not to alert their enemy that he noticed them. He looked at the other three and noticed Rev was already working out the numbers while Layla and Luna looked on their guard too, looking around discreetly to see where they could possibly be attacked.

Looks like they're both more experienced than they let on.

He slowed down his pace as the others followed. "What's the status, Rev?"

"About-34-in-total-11-on-the-roofs-11-to-the-right-and-12-to-the-left-moving-quickly-through-the-shadows," Rev responded in a calm tone as well, following Ace's lead.

"Quite the number against two veterans and two newbies," Luna pointed out analytically with a hint of a purr, which he didn't expect.

They quickly went into fighting position once blurry figures came out of the shadows and started to surround them, the ones on the roof remaining at the edge and alert.

"So you guys finally showed yoselves," Ace said, taking in their enemy. All of them were a bit dispersed but remained surrounding them. They all had masks on their faces, wearing completely black suits. Dark red lined their loose clothes that almost looked like ninja garb. However, they had weapons on their hips and hands, some going barehanded with knuckle-busters nothing at all. The area around their eyes had a dark lens that spanned over them like motorcycle helmets did, concealing who they were and their gender. One, in particular, stood tall at the front, his clothes lined with silver instead of dark red like the rest.

"Give us the girls and we won't have to battle," the head ninja announced, their voice garbled to hide their identity, but still maintaining a deep tone in an attempt to scare them.

_So that's what they're after. Probably from that organization Luna's running from, but why would they want Layla?_

"Sorry, doc, but we ain't gonna do that." Ace unsheathed his sword and got ready to fight.

"So be it." The man gave a signal by closing a raised hand. His minions moved in right away, attacking them without hesitation. Ace started to dodge and push back those that had longer weapons like swords and spears while Rev took out a few who had shorter weapons, going so fast they didn't see him coming. Layla and Luna quickly took action and started to disarm some that came at them, easily dodging one and bouncing off the other to attack another. Luna would push several of them away with her wind before going in aggressively and punching several on the head or the diaphragm. As Ace took in their enemy's positions, he saw the ones left on the roof pulled out guns and aimed it at them.

"Rev! Take out the ones on the roof!" Ace grunted out before he started having trouble with being surrounded by five enemies with swords and chains.

"I'm-on-it!" Rev quickly rushed to the roofs and took the guns away from them while tossing them away. "No-need-for-guns-fellas-when-you-can-just-join-the-fight-going-on-below."

That's when things took an unexpected turn.

Instead of disabling the enemies as they had been doing, Luna went very aggressive and started to break arms and tearing out limbs. Layla kicked one down and stomped on his neck. Ace was horrified to see how the girls suddenly went straight to murdering their enemies.

"What are you two doing?! Those are people!" Ace yelled at them before kicking one of the goons that struck down at him.

"Look closer, Ace! The ones down here are just robots!" Luna threw one of the arms at another goon that tried to strike at Ace from behind. Her aim hit true and he fell back several feet away. Ace got a closer look at what she threw and could see cables coming out of the socket area.

"The only real people are the ones above and their leader!" Layla added as she was starting to have to dodge more and knock the enemies down than do final strikes to finish them off.

The leader caught on and quickly went in to strike Ace while he was pinned by another of the goons. He unsheathed a katana and was about to stab Ace while he was unprotected from above. Just as he was close to getting on top of him, Ace zapped the goon in front of him with his laser blast before rolling out of the way. In his action, he didn't see that the leader was hit on his shoulder as if an invisible knife had stabbed him, making him scream. Ace turned to see what happened and saw the blood start to darken the already black garb on the leader. The leader turned to Luna and gave a dark chuckle.

"Never one to lighten up your attacks. It looks like your true colors are starting to show, Gibbous Moon," the leader said, getting ready to fight even if his left shoulder was limp. Luna glared at the leader before rushing at him and looked ready to strike him with an open hand, her nails looking...elongated and sharper than before. The man quickly jumped back to get out of the way as Luna's strike hit the ground, making the cement crack and break. Ace was shocked by how much power was in that move, as if...

"Luna, were you trying to kill him?!" Ace asked astonished. Luna remained silent as if ignoring him, her eyes staying focused on the leader.

"Looks like you didn't even know what she really is, Bunny...what both are...I suggest you ask them nicely before you decide to hand them over," the leader commented cryptically. He sheathed his sword and raised his hand before pointing behind him. The minions that were left standing saw the signal and started to retreat, taking the others by surprise. Layla was already panting with her stance sagging from being tired and bruised. Rev went back to them, though he kept his guard up in case their enemy tried anything.

Ace looked between the leader and Luna, his face hardened though he was confused by the interaction and how brash her actions were.

"Ace Bunny...I suggest you do your homework before you go defending monsters...," The leader paused and glanced over at Layla, who was glaring back at the man. "...and thieves." Luna gave a low growl as the man retreated as well, falling into the shadows and disappearing. Ace turned to Rev, his serious expression not easing.

"Rev, any that stayed behind? Any traps they left for us?"

"Not-a-single-bogie-or-trap-or-snare-or-even-a-hidden-ninja," Rev responded.

"Were there any innocent people around when they attacked?"

"None-not-even-news-reporters-it-looks-like-they-were-almost-evacuated-or-it-was-just-perfect-timing-that-no-one-was-around-when-they-sneaked-up-on-us."

"Good." Ace looked back at Luna to see the claws were gone and she looked more composed now. "We need to talk...you two are hiding stuff from us. That didn't look like a simple attack to try to take you back. And you didn't hold back on them even before you said dey were robots."

Luna remained silent as she looked at Ace. "...it was a set-up and you know it..." she commented coolly.

"And they did a good job at it. I was already suspicious of you two and this just did it. I'm sorry, but we're gonna have to question you two back at HQ. And don't try to escape. This time, we can track you down for sure." Ace started to walk with his back straight and fumes could be almost coming out of his ears. Layla and Luna looked at each other calmly before they followed him back, Rev watching their interaction in disbelief. Ace clicked on his comms and waited for Tech to answer.

"Did something happen, chief? I picked up on our radar that there were enemies close to your location," Tech worried.

"They retreated for now. I need you to set-up two cells for interrogation."

Tech caught on to Ace's tone and how serious he was, making him on guard as well. "I'm guessing you decided not to beat around the bush anymore. I'll go set them up right now."

"Thanks. Over and out."


	15. Pieces falling to Place

~Earlier in the day~

Tech was in the lab more than usual, having to juggle the mission on the robbery while also figuring out about the girls' true identity in secret as well. He was working on the footage with Rev to figure out how it was that the footage was tampered with in the first place when no one else noticed the interval, including Zadavia's technology, which was supposed to be far more advanced than what they had in Acmetropolis.

"I-was-able-to-tranfer-all-of-their-footage-to-our-computers-including-from-the-room-where-we-found-the-open-vent," Rev rambled off at his usual speed.

"Thanks, Rev," Tech replied. "We need to figure out how they did it. It seems too easy for them to have such quick access to the security system when it should be tough to do so."

"Right?-It's-so-weird-that-they-were-able-to-best-the-system-without-alerting-anyone-until-they-noticed-something-was-off-about-it-and-actually-checked-and-found-it-was-stolen."

Tech was back into his world as he tried to figure out through the data what it was that interfered with the system. Rev was looking through the footage and splitting it so that they would have the images of the time intervals of when the thief could have entered. After several minutes, they finally made a breakthrough.

"I got it!" Tech cried out. Rev zipped over and tried to see what it was that Tech found. "They used a more advanced system to breakthrough. It's a crude way of doing things, but I imagine they had to create a powerful program on their own and a machine to plug it into the system from the outside to hack it all completely."

"Wow-they-must-be-a-really-smart-hacker-enough-to-stump-you-in-the-beginning-just-like-Malerie."

"But this isn't Malerie. She's still in prison and more into getting revenge and destroying the team. This means it's someone just as intelligent and a third party that we never thought of. The question is, who could it be."

"Well-we-can-check-the-government's-system-and-look-for-the-person-with-the-highest-IQ-and-see-if-they-could-be-our-suspect."

"That would make it too broad and forever to find our thief. They could also try to hide their intelligence if they don't want to be caught." Tech continued to mess around in the system while Rev decided to do his idea on another computer to double-check. Tech was having a hard time getting to the bottom of this mystery. It was hard enough to find 'how' they did it, but it was even harder to find the 'who' did it. As he continued to investigate, he noticed something was off about the footage. Everything in the background was clear, but the person was off. A thief couldn't be dressed in complete black, and their gender also remains entirely anonymous. Their clothes would have had indicators of pockets or if it was tight, but not this person. He tried zooming in on the figure, leading to the image blurring up unusually.

"That's weird. It shouldn't be that pixelated even when this enlarged. Meaning this person is using the same device to blur out their silhouette, or they do have powers."

"You-really-think-so-Tech?" Rev went over, holding a sandwich he was eating.

"That's the only conclusion that we have. Which still leads to nowhere."

"Of-course-we-went-somewhere-it's-just-one-tough-nut-case-to-crack-shouldn't-be-that-hard-for-you-or-Ace-to-solve-soon-though-oh-Ace-called-me-in-to-go-on-patrol-with-him-and-the-girls-to-help-them-know-our-routes."

"Well, good luck with that."

"Want-me-to-call-Lexi-to-come-help-you?"

"I'll be fine. I probably need a quick break anyways from staring at this for so long. Need to look at it with fresh eyes again."

"If-you-say-so." Rev zipped off to finish his sandwich and go on duty.

Now that Tech was all alone, he sighed in exhaustion and frustration, set the footage aside, and resumed research on the girls' ID situation. He pulled up all the profiles he had found before and decided to look through the majority to see what life they all had.

"Looks like they lived a simple life. Didn't buy a house, no family, no marriage or children, with a bare minimum on education. Hardly any medical records too. Their jobs were so simple and their lives so bland that they could have been...," Tech mumbled to himself as he started to realize a pattern. He went over more of the profiles, making sure to take notes on any patterns he noticed and any clues this time. As his research continued, he cross-matched the girls' faces with any pictures that would be out in public. Images started to appear that he least expected to appear, such as pictures of charity balls and in some stock photos where they were in the background and not the focus. As they weren't center of the attention, some of their images blurred and hazed, making something click in Tech's mind.

"It'll be a long shot, but..." He went with his guess and was able to get a full-body image of one of the girls that showed her form well, using that to crossmatch with the mystery thief's body. The computer ran through it and found that it was a 98.9% match. Tech ran a hand through his head and over his ears, shocked that his wild theory could be leading him somewhere. Suddenly, Zadavia's hologram came on in one of the hologrammers next to him, taking his focus away.

"Tech. I was able to confirm my suspicions based on all the information you gave me," Zadavia pointed out as her rainbow image appeared.

"I was going over their profiles right now too. They all have a similar pattern. They make sure to have a basic lifestyle and hardly leave any traces of them anywhere. It's like they want to remain unnoticed," Tech added.

"Precisely. The reason, based on that information and what you have told me before, I have found that the reason why is more...inhuman."

"You mean they're anthros like us?"

"Not exactly. Their kind are called 'half-demons' or 'half-anthros' for us. They are a breed in-between humans and anthro where they retain many properties of their demon or anthro parents while still having many human looks. I traced their DNA back to another planet that is just as advanced as my home planet, but remains traditional in many ways."

"So, these two are immigrants from another planet?"

"Quite the opposite. Layla and Luna do not exist at all. Those profiles they made are just aliases, yes. But on their planet, there is no documentation of them being born or even existing. However, there is one person I was able to find with almost identical DNA."

An image of a woman appeared, looking identical to Layla and Luna. However, this woman seemed more serene and ladylike, her posture that of a woman who was brought up in the home of the old nobility and was dressed in a vintage-style gown. She had a soft look to her features, making her almost look younger and like a live doll. But that wasn't what caught Tech's attention the most. It was the fact that even though she seemed very human, she had brown cat ears and small stripes peaking over her jaw that could be birthmarks.

"This is Hana Shimura. She is the only daughter to Falna Shimura, a powerful woman, and leader. Falna is a full breed demon. Her daughter is a half breed."

"Could she possibly be their mother?"

"Yes. Her DNA is almost exactly as that of our two recruits. However, they do seem to have another parent DNA in them that is unknown in any register I could find."

"Very unusual. Anything else you got?"

"Yes. It's about the species themselves. You had mentioned finding profiles that go back a century, correct?"

"Yeah. It was odd and made no absolute sense. There's no way that they could have lived for that long."

"That is correct. That is, under normal circumstances. According to my research, they can live for thousands of years and hardly age, half breeds having shorter lives than their demon parent, but still living for a long time."

"What?!"

An alarm started to ring, and he checked quickly on his computer, seeing that enemies were surrounding the four on patrol and attacking them.

"What timing. It looks like they've encountered some enemies."

"I'll leave you to it. Good luck." Zadavia's hologram ended, and she disappeared, leaving Tech to figure out what was going on. The alarm suddenly stopped, and he saw they were no longer fighting, leaving him worried and confused. His communicator on his wrist started to beep of an incoming call. He clicked on it, and Ace's image appeared.

"Did something happen, chief? I picked up on our radar that there were enemies close to your location," Tech pointed out before Ace could say anything, though he saw Ace's face hard and severe.

"They retreated for now. I need you to set-up two cells for interrogation."

Tech caught on to Ace's tone, making him serious as well. "I'm guessing you decided not to beat around the bush anymore. I'll go set them up right now."

"Thanks. Over and out."

Tech ended the call and sighed. "Things just got more complicated." He got up and started to head to the cells to set them up. "I need to let him know what Zadavia told me and what I found. This is all starting to piece together bizarrely."


	16. Make it Double

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize ahead of time for the length of this chapter. But also sorry not sorry. It's a sacrifice of heavy dialogue needed as we approach the climax.

Layla and Luna sat in separate rooms, Layla looking confused while Luna was calm. However, both didn't seem too bothered by the fact they were in interrogation rooms and in different locations. Ace and Tech stood in front of the one-side windows observing them. "Zadavia had called me before I noticed that you guys were fighting bad guys. She gave me some useful information that both confused me and made everything connect more," Tech said as he handed Ace a holographic tablet with notes on what Zadavia told him as well as what he noticed in his own research.

Ace skimmed through it and took note of what he wrote. "I got some information from an outside source too that can help us," Ace said. He took out his phone and transferred the files his ex-boss gave him into the tablet to look at it later.

Tech raised a brow at this, though he didn't push it, knowing his leader was already tense. "So, who should we talk to first? Luna looks like she won't give in easily."

"You're right about that. Our encounter with the enemy made her true colors start to appear. Both of them. You should have seen how they were fighting. They knew too well which ones to let loose on and destroy and who was human." Ace shook his and skimmed a bit through the new files. "During training, they made it seem like they didn't know what they were doing. Out in a real battle, they fought like professionals. And not just any fighter." Ace turned to Tech. "They looked like killers."

Tech took a deep breath as it settled in. "I didn't get a chance to tell Zadavia what I found about the footage, but I'm hoping I'm not wrong, and we don't have killers and thieves as teammates."

Ace nodded before the sounds of arguing started getting closer to the door, Lexi and Rev appearing. Lexi looked furious, her eyes glowing while Rev was worried and trying to calm her down. She went up to Ace and punched his arm hard, making Ace flinch.

"I can't believe you two!" She glared between Tech and Ace while pointing her hand towards the girls in the rooms. "You guys were just pretending to be nice to them while they try to adjust to everything! Not only that, but you guys are accusing them of stuff that isn't true! Sure, they look alike. But that doesn't mean that they are some kind of criminals that are hiding stuff from us!" Tech winced a little at her words, knowing she was right.

"Lexi, calm down. It's not like that. There just happens to be hard evidence against them, and we want to clear it up with them. We want them to tell us the full truth. Nothing else, promise."

Lexi was still flaring in anger as she continued to glare at Ace, who hadn't said anything yet. Ace looked back at her, face blank of emotion while in thought. "Well? You haven't said anything yet, Ace. Tech, I'll believe since he never lied to us before. You've been doing stuff behind our backs, I know it. Don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. I noticed how you look at them like they're actually villains. The way you and Tech have been up late at night when everyone else is asleep, and you two talk about stuff you don't want the rest of us to know. Ace, we're a team! That means you can't keep things from us and suspect others of something that they haven't done."

His face softened a bit as he let her vent out what she had bottled inside. He let out a slow sigh before placing a hand on her shoulder gently.

Lexi pulled her shoulder away, stepping back as her anger turned to frustration while on the verge of crying.

Ace pulled his hand back and gave another sigh, his body relaxed and no longer looking as frightening and angry as he did before. "I'm sorry, Lex. I just found it odd when I first met them that we ended up with more questions than answers when we tried to find out about them. And while patrolling, it looked like the goils knew who they fighting against and weren't fighting like heroes themselves. I...I know it sounds like I'm prejudicing them, but I just want to help them too if the problem we thought dey were in before is actually a lot worse. We'll set them free afterward. I mean it."

Lexi stared into Ace's eyes, trying to tell if he was telling the truth, pleading that he was right. After a few seconds of silence, she calmed down, though the sadness in her eyes didn't leave. "Fine. But I'll be watching to see what you guys are doing."

Ace smiled softly. "Thank you."

Lexi looked away from him and looked at the girls.

"You're on thin ice, Ace."

Ace nodded as he turned to the girls in their rooms. On quick observation, Layla looked like she was just waiting patiently and playing with her hair lightly while waiting. Luna, however, was staring back at them, as if she could see where they all were. "We'll start with Layla. I think she'll be easier to talk to than Luna."

Tech nodded and headed over to Layla's interrogation room.

Layla sat in her room, having looked around. She started to play with the ends of her hair while pouting, making herself look confused and angry about being accused. 'Well, now they know a lot more than we hoped they would,' she thought.

'It can't be helped. We knew they were going to investigate us once we joined them,' a voice whispered in her brain.

'You'll be able to hear what they say through me. Should I let them in on smaller secrets before they find out about the heavier stuff? I'm sure they'll be questioning me first. I come off as less hardheaded than you.'

'If you think that'll help go ahead. I'll make sure to keep you from letting out too much. We still have to protect her. Besides, it seems that we're not the only ones with secrets. Based on what the guy said before, Ace could be one of us.'

'That's what I thought too. I think he might actually be the same guy as the one we met all those years ago, though we both doubted it at first. They both have the same name and voice. Not to mention his attitude as well. If he's connected with him, well...this'll be even more interesting.'

'They're on the move. Be sure to put on a good show.'

'I always do. You know that I could have been an actress if I wanted to.'

'Whatever,' sarcasm rolled off from that one word. The door opened, and Tech walked in with a digital pad in hand.

Layla looked up and put her hands down on her lap, looking up with worry and confusion as she laid her eyes on him. "Tech, what's going on? Did I do something bad? I swear I was helping fight against the bad guys, and they looked funky when I was close up and didn't feel like actual people too."

Tech remained silent as he sat down across from her but still giving space for the team to see her for any clues she might give away. "Don't worry about that. We know you meant well."

Layla let out a relieved sigh and leaned back in her seat. "Okay. Then why am I here? Is this supposed to be kind of like a post-battle report?"

"Not exactly. However, I'll say this bluntly. We searched in your background and were left with many questions."

"What? That's it? I mean, it should be pretty simple. I worked at that cafe for almost a year now, live in a small apartment, and I have no family left. I thought about going to college, but it was costly, so I just graduated high school, and that's it."

"Yes, but that's just it. It's basic information. It's almost too basic and bland. You graduated with a high GPA and could have gotten scholarships to help you keep going, but you decided against it. You work a job where you would be barely acknowledged by people and don't have connections with your co-workers. We talked with your boss and asked them about you, and they said you were a great people-person and they offered you a promotion to manager because of your skills, but you refused. Not only that, but that you always call in sick once a month and take three days." Tech looked at her earnestly. "Doesn't all this sound a little wrong to you?"

"Um...that you looked into my background to make sure that I'm telling the truth? Everyone gets sick, and I feel like my co-workers are more qualified than me for that position in the job. It sounds more like you're suspicious of me for no reason."

"If your sick days happen to be exactly a month apart and happen to fall on the days of a robbery that happened not long ago and others made by the same person."

Layla looked at tech in shock, eyes bulging and mouth open. "...hold on... Are you accusing me of possibly being a robber? Because that's what it sounds like to me."

'Layla, are you serious?'

'Shut up,' Layla cut off the little voice.

"I'm not fully accusing you. It just happens to be a little too perfect," Tech said, trying to be calm.

"It's just a coincidence. I didn't do it. I really was at home sick. You can even ask my neighbors."

Tech sighed as he pulled up the image of their mystery thief alongside the picture of Layla beside it. "So, you're telling me that my computer was wrong when I ran the numbers and found a 92% match between you and this person?" Tech shifted the tablet so that Layla could see what he was talking about.

Layla looked at it carefully and shook her head. "That's bull. I didn't do it. There's no way that's me. First of all, that person has cat ears and a tail. I do not. Second, my eyes don't glow. Third, that person in that picture you're using as a reference is not me."

"Then who might it be? It's hard to come across a doppelganger as it is, and this picture was taken a couple of years ago. You also come off as someone who would hide their social status. For all we know, you could be rich and actually have incredible control over your powers. After all, it was hard to track you down after the meteor hit. Someone doesn't just disappear off our grid like that."

Layla looked between the pictures and Tech. "This is nuts. I can't be related to this person. There's no way I robbed the museum, and I can't be that person in the picture. I would never go to a charity gala dressed like that." She crossed her arms and sat back with a pout on her face.

Tech raised a brow and put down the tablet. "Who said this was from a charity gala?"

'This was what you decided to slip up in?' The little voice asked.

'It's better than looking stupid and faking the robbery,' Layla replied, freezing up at what Tech mentioned. "You...you didn't? I'm pretty sure you did." Layla put her arms down slowly.

"Never mentioned it. This was actually someone zoomed in from the background. You never would have guessed where the location was from that." Tech crossed his arms as he kept his eyes on her. "Who's the one being suspicious now?"

Layla looked around nervously, playing with her hair again.

"Layla, just tell us the truth. We really want you to be part of our team, but you can't until we can fully trust you." Tech spoke to her softly, his eyes almost pleading her to be truthful. Layla closed her eyes and looked down in silence, confirming what she was being accused of.

Tech sighed and took down the pictures from his tablet. "Why did you do it? There was no reason for you to risk jail time for something you wouldn't be able to use or sell." He leaned against the table with his hands resting on top, fingers interlaced.

Layla remained silent and guilt-ridden in her seat, holding herself together. Time seemed to stretch as Tech waited for her to respond before he gave a sigh, getting up from his chair.

"I..."

Tech stopped midway and looked at her. He sat back down and waited for her to finish.

"I... I did do it," Layla confessed, not moving from her position.

"Why did you do it?" Tech sat at the edge of his seat in anticipation for the truth.

"You wouldn't understand, I..." Layla shook her head and looked down.

"Did someone force you to do it?"

"No, no one told me to...I did it on my own."

"Can you please tell me why you decided to steal jewelry and items that are valued millions and could keep you in prison for your entire life?" Tech tilted his head down to try to see Layla's face from below.

"It was...it was for the adrenaline." Layla's voice was firm and steady, no longer sounding hesitant or guilty.

Tech blinked a couple of times and leaned an inch. "Pardon?"

Layla turned to him with a smile, unlike the kind she had before. She looked defiant, her eyes opening to reveal them glowing a golden hue as the one the thief had.

"I did it for the adrenaline." She leaned comfortably inner seat, an arm draping on the back while her legs crossed underneath the table. Her free hand went up and took off her beanie to reveal cat ears, a tail uncoiling behind her.

Tech stared at her in awe and shock at how easily she revealed what was hard to hide. 'The others must be in shock too. It's almost like she flipped a switch,' he thought to himself.

Layla looked relaxed in her seat with a smug look and eyes that sought trouble, their glow diminishing. "Hard to believe what you see? This must be quite the trip right now. It was so fun keeping you guys from finding out the truth, though I felt bad at the same time. Must have had quite the number of sleepless nights in trying to solve the puzzle."

Tech leaned back in his seat as he tried processing it all.

"By the way, I'm pretty sure we met many years ago. Right before the meteor hit. It was only for a moment, but I'm sure sparks flew." Layla smiled, but onto longer had as much innocence as it did before.

"You're telling me that you committed the robbery at several museums, just for the fun of it?!"

"It was better than looking for life and death situations. I already had enough of those, and let me tell you, this is nothing compared to what I did before. I prefer being a thief than what I was forced to be."

Tech processed it and took apart what she said. "What were you forced to do before that you're so ashamed of?"

Layla shrugged and placed her lazy hand on her arm. "That I won't tell you. I wouldn't be a good actress or storyteller if I gave you all the clues."

Tech shook his head, leaning forward. "Then what about the footage? How were you able to make it so that we couldn't even decipher your gender? You used fake footage, didn't you? I was able to find that in the system."

"That was easy. I used a device to hack in and bring down part of the security system. The fun part is leaving the cops like chickens with their head chopped off when I tease the cameras. For that, I used my powers." Layla shifted in her seat as she spoke, so her hands were on the table and sat perfectly normal.

"And what powers would that be? We weren't able to find it in your DNA when we got it."

"That's because when the meteor hit, my powers evolved. I can make illusions seem real to as many people as I want. I can make it seem like we're actually at the beach or bugs crawling out of your skin. I can affect the five senses to make you look crazy in front of others. However, before I couldn't use it against technology. But after the strike, it changed so that I could. Crazy how it works, huh?"

Tech took note of what she said in mind and stood up. "Then I guess that explains why we couldn't find you before. You knew how to hide your powers from the beginning. How does this explain about what the leader of the attack said earlier? How are you connected?"

"For that, you'll have to talk to someone else. I have to get my fun somehow after so many things have numbed me of joy." Layla leaned back once more, placing a hand against her cheek while her other was used to prop up her elbow. She continued to look at Tech with mischief and a sassy smile. "I'm just one small piece to the puzzle. There are others in this building that will make all the answers easier to understand. Watching you guys run around in confusion is fun."

He stared at her, her comprehension dawning as picked up his tablet and walked to the door.

"Oh, and Tech?"

Tech turned back while standing at the door.

"I really enjoy being here. Don't let my words and attitude make you think I'm a supervillain. I like spending time with you guys and shopping with Lexi."

Tech examined her, taking note that her features softened as did her tone, giving sincerity to her statement. He gave her a silent nod before leaving the room to meet with the team.

Ace, Lexi, and Rev watched the whole interrogation, too shocked to even react. It had been so easy to crack her, and yet, there was another layer to the mystery and lies. The one who seemed more trustworthy turned out to be an adrenaline junkie and a con.

"I...I can't believe she would say that...I can't believe she's actually," Lexi trailed off, unsure of how to finish it.

"A-liar-a-con-artist-a-criminal-the-list-can-go-on-right-now-who-knew-we-had-the-thief-in-the-tower-this-whole-time-and-we-didn't-even-realize-it-isn't-that-insane? It-means-she's-really-good-at-her-job-or-she-really-wanted-us-not-to-figure-out-it-was-her-either-way-she-made-sure-that-we-didn't-suspect-her-in-the-first-place," Rev explained.

Duck and Slam walked into the room as the other three talked.

"Well, I wasn't surprised they ended up in those cells. I always knew something was off about them," Duck commented as he walked over to the group.

"Abed geba doda twins?" Slam asked, looking between the two rooms.

"No, Slam. It's not because they're twins, though that's a possible truth. But it's not why they're in there," Ace explained.

"It's because they didn't respect me, and they are spies from the enemy," Duck suggested confidently.

"That's what we're trying to figure out."

Duck's eyes widened in surprise and turned to Ace. "Wait, are you serious? I was right again? Ha!" He puffed out his chest and pounded it lightly with a fist. "I'm getting better at this."

"So far, Layla confessed to being the thief from the museum. We just have to figure out what her connection is with Luna and the ones who attacked Ace and Rev earlier," Lexi added. "l really hoped they weren't part of any crime. I really like them. They didn't pretend when we spend girl time together."

"Don't trust women. That's what I believe. They are just full of lies," Duck added. He looked back at the cells and stepped back a little. "Is it just me, or does it look like Luna can see us through the glass? It's really creepy."

The others turned to see what Duck was talking about and immediately noticed that he wasn't lying. Luna was looking directly at them, sitting calmly in her seat with her hands on the table. Ace moved closer to the glass to see for sure if she could, her eyes following him closely. He stood across from her on his side of the glass, crossing his arms and watched her close. Luna did the same and leaned back in her chair, raising a brow in challenge. Ace mimicked her and continued to stare back, both being perfectly still for what felt like forever before Luna closed her eyes. The edge of her lips twitched, repressing a smile behind her peaceful look.

"Jaofbjeba creepy," Slam commented.

"It-really-is-kind-of-creepy-how-she-was-able-to-do-that-do-you-think-she-was-trying-to mess-with-us?" Rev added.

"I think she's trying to scare us so we can just let her go. Well, that ain't happening on my watch!" Duck announced, waving a hand in the air.

"Sure, Duck. Let's go with that," Lexi brushed him off. She turned to Ace, seeing he was still severe. "What are you thinking, Ace?"

"I think she knows more than they're letting on," he responded. "I'm going to brush through what I'm going to ask her before I go in. Tech's almost done with Layla." Ace started to walk away and flip through the file that his ex-boss gave him.

Lexi watched him leave and sighed softly. 'Hope nothing bad happens through all this,' she thought.

Ace stood before the door that led to Luna's interrogation room, hesitating as he held open the file. "Most of it is blacked out, but I can imagine what it all says," he mumbled to himself. He took a deep breath before opening the door and stepping inside, walking straight to the chair across from her. Luna kept her eyes closed as he sat down, remaining in her calm and relaxed pose. Ace ignored her posture and went down to business.

"Luna. We need to talk," he started off.

"I thought that's what we were going to do when you asked Tech to set up the rooms," Luna intervened, opening her eyes sluggishly.

"Yes, but I mean it seriously. I need you to tell me the whole truth. Who were those guys, and why were they after you and Layla."

Luna looked at Ace and tilted her head to the other side slowly. "...I thought you would have had an idea by now. You and Tech were doing your best to figure us out, right? To the point where you even took my sword to find out more about it."

Ace blinked a couple of times, trying to find out how it was she knew. "I did no such thing. I would never invade a goil's room for that," Ace lied.

"Yet I could still tell you did it. I could tell it was moved from its hiding spot and that someone had been in my room. I doubt Tech would do such a thing based on how innocent he is, but you are another story."

Luna sat up straight and gave her full attention to him. "You must have already searched up our background and found something funny about it, that it all didn't add up. When you continued to snoop around, things started to become more complicated and confusing. You decided to try a different curve and got my sword to see how it could connect with my background after many failed attempts, and found that it necessarily didn't. After a while, you and Tech stepped back a little to make Layla and I lower our guard, which also seemed to have worked for our surprise villain so that we would end up here. Have I gotten it right so far, chief?"

Ace kept his composure as he realized that Luna knew exactly what they had been doing behind everyone's back. He took a deep breath and thought of his next move. "If you know all this, then why not explain what went on earlier instead of making us go around in circles. It'll make everything much easier."

"That's because there's one piece of the puzzle that needs to be solved."

"Oh yeah? And what would that piece be?" Ace leaned a little forward with his hands clasped together on the table.

"I can tell you, but I need you to answer me one question."

"Now isn't the time for games like that, Luna. You need to be fully honest with me."

Luna looked into his eyes before slowly uncrossing her arms. "Was your name always 'Ace Bunny?'"

Ace was taken back by her question, especially since it was so personal. "It has. I return the question. Has your name always been 'Luna Kane?'"

Luna looked over him slowly, thinking of her answer carefully. "Yes...and no."

"Enough with the riddles, Luna. This is getting us nowhere." Frustration started to seep into Ace's voice, Luna leaning forward slightly.

"If you want the truth, then you have to be honest too, Ace. Weren't you told to not keep secrets from your team? I ask you again. Is your name 'Ace Bunny?'"

"And I'm being honest. It's really my name." He rubbed the back of his head in irritation. 'This is going nowhere.' He pulled up an image of her sword and put it in front of her. "Tell me about the sword. You told us it was a family heirloom. We found you were half right about that."

Luna looked down at the tablet and relaxed with a slight smile on her lips. "I was right. You did look through my stuff."

Ace didn't smile, crossing his arms across his chest.

"You're right about it. It is a family heirloom, and I'm sure you looked into it and found it really is AN heirloom, but not sure if it's really MY heirloom. To answer that, it is. Not specifically to my family, but I'm the only one who can properly use it. Think of it as your own sword. It looks like any other sword, but it has potent properties to it that enemies would want. Mine just happens to be more...demonic. And responds only to me."

"Are you admitting that you are not normal like us? Or even human?" Ace smiled slightly, finally getting somewhere.

Luna lazily put her hands up in surrender. "You got me there, chief. I am human, but not completely."

"Then, let's get over this charade and show us who you really are."

Luna shrugged her shoulders and reached a hand up to her hair. He was sure she was just going to brush aside hair to reveal ears like Layla. What he didn't expect was that she would pull her hair to show she had been wearing a wig the entire time. Her hair was longer now, just below the shoulder, and dark brown color like Layla's. Exact cat-ears appeared along with the tiger-striped tail from behind. Luna tossed the wig onto the table and ruffled her hair to make it wavy and more voluminous. When she was done, she turned her attention back to Ace.

"Satisfied?" she asked.

Ace composed himself when he saw her natural transformation. 'These two really are trouble,' he thought. He turned back to his tablet and looked through it until he pulled up a file with crescent moons back-to-back with an arrow throw the middle horizontally, turning it so that the tablet faced her. "I need you to tell me about this symbol. We already got a confession out of Layla. You need to fess up too on your side," he ordered calmly.

Luna looked down at the tablet, taking a deep, slow breath. "What is it?" she asked curiously.

"You know damn well. Layla used it in her calling card."

"Oh, that one. Still don't know what it is. Mind explaining what it looks like?"

"The picture is right here on the screen and bigger. How can you not see it?"

Luna stared at Ace, her face devoid of emotion. "I. Can't. See it."

Ace looked at her carefully, looking for any details that she was lying. Her face didn't give away much. Her eyes, however, had a glassy, distant look to them. She was looking at him, but not focused on him at the same time. He searched her over and realized something. "What was Lexi wearing when you found Layla?"

"...A green t-shirt with jeans."

Ace turned to the single window, not able to see his team on the other side, but make sure to look at them before turning back. "That's incorrect. That's what you were wearing. She was wearing a pink tank top with leggings and a sweater at the waist."

"Skirt was going to be my next guess." Luna shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "If you always have been Ace, then you must know who I am and what's going on. This isn't our first one-on-one talk, and us meeting each other here isn't the first time. Better rack your brain to remember the answers to this confusing riddle. That is if you're still the 'Ace' I remember."

Ace pondered for a moment, thinking back to when they could have met and why she was so familiar. Luna stretched her arms a bit before letting her arms fall with one outstretched hand to shake. He looked at her in confusion and looked at her carefully.

"Luna Story. Though, you must have known my name if you were able to find my room," she spoke softly. It finally clicked in his mind, his eyes widening.

"You're...you're that 'Luna'?" he asked in disbelief. Luna pulled her hand back and smiled slightly.

"You finally remember. Guess you haven't forgotten about me at all. Though, it really is quite the small world after all."

"Ace, what do you mean she's 'that Luna?'" Tech's voice echoed through the intercom. Ace rubbed his eyes and turned slightly to face the window.

"We've met before. Luna's blind." Ace stood up and stared at her. "What happened to you? I wasn't sure if you were going to continue working on the cruise or not considering the accident."

"Well, I did try to play it off like there still wasn't anything wrong with me, but I couldn't pretend for much longer, and I was let go. After that, I continued working odd jobs and got used to my new sight before I decided to pretend to be a college student. Good to always refresh on what they teach nowadays." Luna sounded so calm about it, it was hard to realize that she wasn't affected at all by her predicament. "I can still function. And as you saw earlier, still able to fight."

"Then does that mean Layla is," Ace cut himself off.

"Yup. The same one in the other room. Again, such a small world we live in."

"Why were you two acting like you didn't know each other at all? Who's after you guys? You guys must have an idea who it could be," he asked gently, his tone and attitude now of concern and confusion for her. Luna pointed toward the tablet.

"Who gave you that file? I can't see, but I know what you were talking about."

He picked up the tablet and closed the file, shaking his head a bit. "No one you need concern yourself with. The majority of it is blacked out anyways. And mostly, it has the names of the moon phases, so I doubt it has much importance."

"How do you know that? Didn't the person who gave it to you tell you to confront us about it, 'Agent Bunny?' Why else would you have believed them and looked through it." He turned back to her and eyes her slowly.

"It's not your concern. Forget about calling me 'agent' like that guy did back there."

"Why? What is there to hide if you worked for the government. It just shows you were more than capable of being the leader. Or is it...that the rest of the team didn't know of this."

Ace froze for a second, silence speaking for him as he headed to the door. "Oh, and Ace? Tell the one who gave you the files to give you the uncensored version. It's time to end his bull." Ace nodded slightly before leaving the room altogether.

Lexi was the first to stand in front of Ace with her arms crossed when he reached the other side, looking calm yet with anger exuding out of her. "I thought no more secrets, Ace," she said.

"How did you realize Luna was blind?" Tech intervened.

"We had met before the meteor hit. She got involved in an accident that made her partially blind," Ace explained to both, stepping around them. "Her eyes look distant and unfocused when looking at you. Why I didn't recognize her at first, I have no idea. I probably thought I would never have seen her again. Even if it was my fault, she ended up like that."

"It's-crazy-how-we-didn't-realize-she-was-blind-before-I-do-remember-her-bumping-into-a-lot-of-things-that-others-would-have-gone-around-or-small-things-you-can-walk-over-but-she-would-trip-on-that-stuff-and-sometimes-look-distant-but-she-would-say-she-was-a-klutz-is-all-maybe-she-was-hiding-her-blindness-by-saying-she-was-a-klutz-but-then-how-would-that-explain-how-she-would-get-around-new-places-without-having-a-problem," Rev thought aloud.

"She can 'see' even when blindfolded. She can see the auras of objects and people. On record, she only had that power. My guess is that the other ones appeared the same way ours did."

"What about Layla being the same one as before? You also met her in the past?" Lexi asked.

"These two are sisters. Twins to be exact," Ace responded.

"I knew it! It was too much of a coincidence for them to look alike," Duck declared. "More importantly, what did Luna mean when she kept calling you 'agent' and that you worked for the government? Zadavia never mentioned that."

The team turned to Ace with some suspicion. "He's got a point there, chief. I may have stepped out of line, but...while you were interrogating Luna and she mentioned that little tidbit, I looked into your background and never found anything about you being an agent or working for the government. What were two talking about that led to this? How is it also connected to the fight earlier? Everything has become more confusing once we started getting answers," Tech analyzed.

Ace looked at each one of his teammates, some giving him confusion while Duck and Lexi were looking at him suspiciously. "I'll explain everything later. I need to make a call to get this straightened out," he responded in defeat.

"That's it? No explanation? Well, I guess that means you're just as guilty of dirty secrets as those cats we have caged up," Duck accused as he crossed his arms across his chest. Ace glared daggers at Duck.

"That's not it. My connection said that these two were connected to this file, but it makes no sense since I've met these girls before, and the only crime we can get them for is robbery and keeping their identities a secret for their own safety. I can only guess what happened after the accident, but everything else doesn't connect. I'm only going to confront them and get the truth out of them," he explained as calmly as he could.

"And who, exactly, is this connection you are talking about that we never knew of before?" Lexi asked.

Ace turned and started to leave them. "Someone I hope you guys never meet," he murmured, Lexi hearing him. She was left confused and scoffed.

"He makes no absolute sense. How are we supposed to clear up all this drama if he just feeds more fuel to the fire?"

"It's probably something he doesn't like talking about. If he was part of the government before, he probably wants to make sure they never interfere with us. Sure, we technically work for them in the form of how we're allowed to do our job, but maybe he's not proud of his past job before he ended up as a stunt double. That will be quite the humiliation if you think about it. Kind of like how Duck was a pool-boy before becoming a hero," Tech countered. "What you were saying was a low blow, Duck. Just because we don't know everything about him doesn't give us the right to be accusatory like that."

"I-think-we-all-need-to-calm-down-and-not-start-pointing-fingers-at-each-ther-okay-maybe-that-could-be-what-whoever-the-mastermind-of-all-this-is-hoping-for," Rev interrupted.

"Uh-huh uh-huh," Slam agreed.

Duck and Tech stared at each other before Duck turned away. "Whatever. You're all despicable."

Tech rolled his eyes and turned to Lexi, placing a hand on her shoulder gently. "Have a bit of faith in Ace. He's been our trusted leader and friend for years now. If he's keeping this a secret, he must have a good reason for it. You know that better than anyone."

Lexi nodded pensively, giving a weak smile in return. "Right...hopefully, he does explain everything to us. I don't want us to be left in the dark is all."

In an empty room not far from the team, Ace pulled out his phone and punched in the same number as before with the same code. He didn't care if he could possibly be overheard or the fact that he was doing this in the tower. He had enough playing these confusing mind games he was forced to play. After the third ring, there was a click from the other side.

"Quite rash to call from your own phone, don't you think? Your team will be able to find out about you more," A familiar deep voice boomed.

"Cut the bull, boss. What's really going on. You said you would help figure out how the goils are connected to the organization after them and the files you sent are mostly blacked out. You're doing this on purpose, and based on how Luna was acting, there's more to the story that you aren't telling me," Ace shot. "And let's not forget to mention that these two were also connected to my last mission with you and that Luna is blind so what would be the purpose of 'showing her that symbol.'"

Silence rang loudly from the other end before there was a sigh from the other side. "It was so much easier when you were more obedient. Giving you your freedom was a bad decision in the first place, though I felt pity for you."

"Answer me, boss. What's your real connection to them. Are you the one who's actually after them?"

"How is your team? Are they still trusting you even though you have lied about your life to them?" The boss fired back.

Ace took a beat longer to answer. "My team still trusts me very much. And I won't let you destroy my team because of your meddling."

"Ah, you took longer to answer. Ace, is your team starting to doubt you? You wouldn't really want to lose them since they are more than just a 'team' to you, am I right? Think carefully about what you're doing before I make it all crumble. I warned you before. You may have left, but we're always watching. We are where you least expect us to be. If you go against us, we'll make sure you lose everything, come back to us on your knees, and receive punishment," he threatened.

"Try me. I'm getting to the bottom of this without your help or interference. I'll make sure you're the one regretting contacting me again." Ace hung up the phone and exasperated. "This is all spiraling out of control. Can't believe this stuff is coming back to haunt me." He lifted up the tablet once more and started to go through all the files he had as he sat. Focusing his all into figuring out the pieces of information he could gather, he didn't realize he had company in the room.

Lexi quietly walked over to Ace, trying not to spook him as she had also calmed down from her earlier fury. She sat next to him and looked over what he was doing. "...what was that all about?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, unbothered that she was looking at his work or that she had been quiet the whole time.

"That phone call just now...I've never heard you so angry before." He turned to her in surprise.

"Um...did you hear what the conversation was? I thought you had stayed with the others."

"I was, but I came to check on you, and I heard the last parts. Not a lot." Lexi shrugged nonchalantly as she looked up at him. "So. What was that all about? Sounded like you two were threatening each other."

Ace blinked a couple times before shaking his head a little. "Well, we kind of were. I'll explain about him to all of you soon. I just wanted to properly cut ties that would throw off everything we're getting out of the goils and what we have. He's acting like he's innocent and generous, but I know better. He's the kind of guy who expects something in return. Basically, he'll want a favor from me. But with everything we have, it all doesn't add up. What he says is one thing, the documents seem to say the opposite, and everything we learned on our own is also completely different. It's like they're all just throwing us in loops to make sure we never find out the truth." He unconsciously leaned his head against hers gently while closing his eyes, defeat all over his face.

Lexi blushed under her fur, surprised by the vulnerability Ace was showing her. 'He must be drained if he's showing this side of himself. He never shows his vulnerable side to anyone,' Lexi thought. She leaned her own head against his softly and patted his head gently. "We're here to help you, Ace. We're a team. You shouldn't carry everything on your shoulders just because you're our leader. We care and worry about you."

"Even Duck?" Ace teased, opening an eye and looking up at her. Lexi giggled and straightened up her head.

"He usually cares for himself, but I'm sure a tiny part of him actually cares for you. Why else do you think he comes to you when he's in trouble and wants to use you as a scapegoat?"

Both laughed at their jokes, lightening up the mood until Ace was able to relax.

"Thanks, Lex. What would I do without you around." Ace straightened up and smiled at her appreciatively.

Lexi smiled back. "You'd probably be moping around and driving yourself mad." She gestured the tablet and retook a peak. "Think some fresh eyes might help with your mess?"

"If you put it that way, I think it might help. We did agree to no more secrets between us." Ace handed her the tablet, watching as she started to bring everything up holographically to look through it quickly. Calming silence fell over them as both looked for any information that could make it easy to understand the web of deception and lies entangled with the truth. Minutes passed, and before they knew it, almost an hour had passed as they discussed details they found.

"I think it's weird how in the files, it says that these moon phases 'died' instead of 'passed' like regular researchers would say," Lexi pointed out.

"Not just that. I noticed before how it keeps saying there were 'successes and failures in different areas," Ace added. "I don't know about you, but this is definitely not talking about actual moon phases. Sounds more like code words." Ace pondered as he looked over it before something popped out to him. "Look at this." He pointed to a small part of one of the pages. "Says here 'Waxing Crescent confirmed to using lightning.' 'First Quarter confirmed to using fire.' 'Waxing Crescent confirmed to ice.'"

"Sounds more like they're either talking about machines than the actual moon."

"Right. If we keep going further, it keeps saying stuff similar to that. But here's the kicker. If we go to the last pages, it says 'Third Quarter and Waning Crescent remain.' Afterward, it seems to indicate they no longer have these two, and the program was shut down."

Lexi thought about his words before turning to him quickly, something clicking on her mind. "Ace. What if they weren't talking about moon phases or machines. What if..."

Catching onto her hint, he stood up quickly and rushed over to the interrogating cells. Tech and Rev were still there watching over the girls as Ace went to Luna's cell, the closest one.

"Ace, what's going-"

"There were more of you, weren't there," he cut Tech off, entering the cell.

Luna looked up at him, examining him closely before a hint of a sad smile appeared. "Yes. There were."

Ace walked over as he continued to speak. "Those files. It's not completely uncensored, but we were able to get a small idea of what it's about. The backstory you told me all those years ago was a cover story, right? Just to hide your true identity?" He leaned against the table, looking directly at her with resolve.

"Yes. Sappy one, but rehearsed in case of an emergency like then."

"Since the paperwork doesn't tell us everything, what's your connection to Hana Shimura?"

Her smile faltered as she turned away and looked ahead at the glass. "Our mother. She was the one who was used to create us."

Ace lifted a brow. "'Used to create you?' That's insinuated you aren't 'half-demon.'"

"Tech must have done a lot of research. If not him, I'm guessing Zadavia since she has more connections. But yes. Not entirely 'half-demon.' My great grandfather sent her to the facility to be used as a guinea pig since he was racist or 'species-ist' if you will. In the facility, they didn't treat her too bad since she was still a noble, but they used her blood, her DNA, to make us."

"You see," Layla appeared in Luna's cell, leaning against the wall like she was there the whole time. Ace stepped back and turned to the glass for any kind of sign of what was going on.

"Ace, it's an illusion. Layla is still in her cell, and her door hasn't opened. After she told us her powers, I adjusted the instruments in the room immediately to keep her from faking and escaping," Tech said over the intercom.

"Don't worry. There's no need for me to escape if we're spilling the details. Besides, it's better if I'm in this room too. Makes explaining more interesting," Layla explained with a smile. "As I was saying. You see, the reason they took her blood was to experiment on it. And it wasn't exactly humane."

"They used her blood and another of unknown origin to create monstrosities they could test and experiment on until they broke and get rid of like broken toys," Luna added.

Tech stepped into the room, now that he was interested and knew that Layla wasn't gone. "You're saying they created clones? How is that possible?"

"Clones? Like with the ship?" Ace asked.

"Yes to clones, no to the ship," Layla replied.

"What happened on the ship was specifically designed to fit the situation. I'm guessing that the robots were from a group of villains, and the captain had paid you guys to protect his jewel. The funny thing was that we were going after it at that time too, though we decided against it, in the end, to keep it safe," Luna explained.

"We worked together in making these heists before that time and decided to go our separate ways when we discovered HE was involved."

"Who is this 'he' you've been mentioning? Many of us are in the dark about this," Tech interjected.

"Oh, that. Would you like us to explain our share of the story first, or should you, Ace?" All three looked at Ace curiously, him being calmer and more in control of himself than he did earlier.

"I'd like to hear your version first. Maybe it'll make more sense that way. Especially since it looks like we'll be talking about the same person," Ace replied. The twins nodded, Layla walking over to stand beside Luna.

"The person we're talking about is the leader of this organization called 'Legacy.' It's run by a man named Azusa Hiyorimi, a man of science who has no real morals when it comes to living things. Under him, there are many more scientists who don't really see you as anything other than objects to test theories on. Though after so many years and loss of funds, I imagine he doesn't really do that kind of thing anymore, right?"

"Yeah. I never heard of them making clones, but I did hear that things were more 'liberal' in the glory days."

"Right. That was back when we were created. When they made us, there was a total of 8 clones. One passed away when she was being released from her incubation fluid. We weren't given any names, just numbers and moon phases to identify us," Luna informed.

"I'm number 6, and Luna is 7. If you take the one who passed away as number 8, 'new moon,' you'll figure out the rest," Layla expanded. Ace thought back to what he and Lexi noticed and made the connection.

"That would make you Third Quarter and Waning Crescent correspondingly," Tech beat him to the punch.

"Righty-o, Tech. Now, mother still had to stay there despite her job basically already done, but great grandfather didn't want her around, so grandmother found it safer for her to stay. She was the one who gave us our names and raised us along with her maid for three years. We lived a pretty peaceful life for experiments, learning to read and write and let our personalities appear since we were basically babies in the bodies of 6-year-olds. After that, she was summoned away."

"Why do you say you were in the bodies of 6-year-olds when clones are supposed to look exactly like the original even in age?"

"That's the basic version. Complete cloning has never been successful, so what they did was make us in her younger form so we can last longer as well as for a higher success rate since it was also with the blood that had many unknown factors to it. At least according to theory. There were still many flaws, an example being that I am defective and that the last one died due to many issues that caused her death, but they made sure we were perfectly fine. After mother left was when things started getting ugly," Luna continued.

"Exactly how ugly did it get?" Ace asked cautiously.

"To the point where one or two of us died during their little experimentations. I almost lost my sight when they tried to figure out how my aura vision worked," she replied grimly.

"Azusa didn't care how we felt or if we survived. All that mattered was results. And since we had to 'earn our keep' for just having a roof over our heads, we had to do his dirty work for him," venom stung Layla's words. "You were lucky you didn't get the jobs we did since it seems he wanted to keep his true nature a secret. Or at least the job offers on a minimum scale."

"What did you two have to do? More thievery?" Tech asked curiously.

"That would be tame compared to back then. No, what we had to do was get our hands bloody. I can still smell it even if we've stopped doing that the moment we escaped." The room fell silent as Tech, Ace, and Lexi let this all sink in.

"...you guys are killers?"

"'Were.' And we were more assassins, which just sounds fancier, but we were hired to do that. When we managed to finally escape, we brought our mother with us to keep her safe from being used as a hostage against us. But because of that, we haven't seen or talked with her in years," Layla sighed. "We took on those missions against our will and since we were still young. We made mistakes...and some of us died because of it...in the end, just Luna and I remain." Silence spoke volumes between them before Ace spoke up.

"Why didn't you go against him? You two are much stronger and had more experience, didn't you?"

"Yes and no. We were strong. Still are, but he's on another level. We don't know what he is, and during our time there, we were controlled by a chip on our spinal cord to make sure we followed orders. If we were out of line, they would zap us straight into the spinal cord and paralyze. The strength always varied so that we wouldn't get used to it, including the amount of time we remain paralyzed."

"Do you...still have the chips?" Tech asked.

"Yup. Somehow we were able to destroy them so that he wouldn't find us. However, he has other ways. We only managed to bide our time," Luna replied.

"And now he knows where you are and hoped to get you guys by even involving me and coming up with lies to hand you over," Ace summarized.

"Exactly." Layla walked over to stand behind Luna, placing her hands on the back of her seat.

"And you're telling us this is all true? This is the real story, and what's actually on the documents?" Ace asked, looking between the two girls, wanting to know if they were honest. The twins replied in unison with a serious look on their faces.

"Yes."

Ace continued to watch them in silence for seconds that stretched before he sighed and stood back. "Alright. I believe you."

"So easily?" Tech walked closer to Ace. "I know they look like they're telling the truth, but why believe them without solid evidence?"

"Why would they lie to us when they did outlandish things to grab our attention and seek refuge?" Ace countered with his own question. "I believe them because Azusa revealed his true colors when I called him. It all makes sense now. He was a cautious man, but he's also a brutal one." He turned to the girls. "Do you know where your mother is? We can bring her here and keep her safe."

The girls shook their heads.

"It's better we don't. If he sees us bringing her here or try to contact her, I'm sure he'll intercept and actually grab her. He has lots of sources despite how far the lab has fallen," Luna warned. "When all this is over, then we can go see her. Or you can also send us to jail for fraud, stealing, and murder."

Layla shrugged as if it wasn't that big of a deal. "It'll be understandable if you do. We just want to take this guy down once and for all."

"Though 'murder' would be something hard to get evidence for. Since we stopped doing that when we migrated to Acmetropolis," Luna added.

"Ace. Can we talk separately?" Tech motioned to step out of the cell. Ace nodded and followed him out, Lexi meeting with them. "Do you seriously believe them? I don't want to condemn them or anything, but their story is very far-fetched even for our standards considering what we've come across."

"I don't doubt them. The thing is, this same man was the one who was my boss as well as one of the people who raised me," Ace explained.

"Hold on. You're saying this crazy man that's after them is the same one you worked for and not only that, but he's your father?" Lexi asked, exasperated.

"He wasn't my father. I was an orphan, like Duck, but he took me in as my guardian. I had no real connection to anything, so it made sense I would become the perfect pawn. I would also go through some strict tests and training, but I never went to the extreme level as them. Since he never really treated me as his son and had many others he took in like me, I would just call him 'Boss.' Still do sometimes. The jobs he would make us do was just take information from other places, spy, bodyguard jobs, simple stuff mercenaries would do. All but actually kill people. My last mission was where I first met Luna. I had run information on her as well as all the staff to see how I could use to help me with my mission back then. Her background seemed fine and did register her aura power as just a talent or rare ability in her health records. During the mission, things went wrong, and she got severely hurt. She ended up with a small concussion and possibly hit the part of her brain that affects her sight. I explained myself a bit when I went to check on her. Honestly, I didn't think much about our meeting then or the fact that she had cat ears and a tail though she looked more human. But with what she told us this time, the cover-up story she told me, and with what I remember of my time there, it makes more sense."

Tech had a hand on his chin in deep thought. "If this guy is so dangerous...why not just take him down and have him arrested along with anyone involved? That way, we can put an end to his reign, and nothing like them ever happens again?" Tech suggested.

"He's not wrong there. We can try to tackle down his schemes and save anyone else who is still being forced to deal with his torture," Lexi supported.

"It'll be hard to do since we don't know his numbers and full operation. It could take us years before we finally get everyone," Ace warned again. "We'll just have to do our best. We agreed to be heroes to help those in need. This is one of those times where we really need to help." Lexi looked at Ace with confidence, no longer doubting her leader and his decisions.

"Besides, maybe their expertise could help us in the future, along with their powers. They are powerful, no doubt about it," Tech added. Ace thought about this carefully before nodding. All three of them walked back into the room and saw Luna and Layla waiting patiently for them.

"What did you guys agree on?" Layla asked.

"We'll work together to take down Legacy once and for all. It might take a while, but we promise that through the whole thing, we'll get rid of them all." Ace crossed his arms.

"What will you do after the whole operation is done?" Luna asked cautiously.

"For now, we'll talk it through with Zadavia. You can tell us where you left your hoard of stolen items, and we'll see from there." He took out his hand toward the two girls. "Do we have a deal?"

Luna and Layla looked at each other silently before taking his hand, Layla's image disappearing.

"Deal."


End file.
